Editing Module:Petrarch (section)

==Works==
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-1985-0819-019, Handschrift, Francesco Petrarca.jpg|thumb|upright|Original lyrics by Petrarch, found in 1985 in Erfurt]]
[[File:Simone Martini - Frontispice du Virgile.jpg|thumb|upright|''Petrarch's [[Virgil]] (title page)'' ({{Circa|1336}}) <br />Illuminated manuscript by [[Simone Martini]], 29 x 20 cm Biblioteca Ambrosiana, Milan.]]
[[File:The Triumph of Death, or The Three Fates.jpg|thumb|upright|''The Triumph of Death'', or ''The 3 Fates''. Flemish tapestry (probably Brussels, {{Circa|1510–1520}}). Victoria and Albert Museum, London. The three Fates, Clotho, Lachesis and Atropos, who spin, draw out and cut the thread of life, represent Death in this tapestry, as they triumph over the fallen body of Chastity. This is the third subject in Petrarch's poem "The [[Triumphs]]". First, Love triumphs; then Love is overcome by Chastity, Chastity by Death, Death by Fame, Fame by Time and Time by Eternity]]

Petrarch is best known for his Italian poetry, notably the ''[[Il Canzoniere|Rerum vulgarium fragmenta]]'' ("Fragments of Vernacular Matters"), a collection of 366 lyric poems in various genres also known as 'canzoniere' ('songbook'), and ''I trionfi'' ("The [[Triumphs]]"), a six-part narrative poem of Dantean inspiration. However, Petrarch was an enthusiastic Latin scholar and did most of his writing in this language. His Latin writings include scholarly works, introspective essays, letters, and more poetry. Among them are ''[[Secretum (book)|Secretum]]'' ("My Secret Book"), an intensely personal, imaginary dialogue with a figure inspired by [[Augustine of Hippo]]; ''[[De Viris Illustribus (Petrarch)|De Viris Illustribus]]'' ("On Famous Men"), a series of moral biographies; ''Rerum Memorandarum Libri'', an incomplete treatise on the [[cardinal virtues]]; ''De Otio Religiosorum'' ("On Religious Leisure")<ref>[http://www.italicapress.com/index186.html Francesco Petrarch, ''On Religious Leisure (De otio religioso),''] edited & translated by Susan S. Schearer, introduction by Ronald G. Witt (New York: Italica Press, 2002).</ref> and ''[[De vita solitaria]]'' ("On the Solitary Life"), which praise the contemplative life; ''[[De Remediis Utriusque Fortunae]]'' ("Remedies for Fortune Fair and Foul"), a self-help book which remained popular for hundreds of years; ''[[Itinerarium]]'' ("Petrarch's Guide to the Holy Land"); invectives against opponents such as doctors, scholastics, and [[French people|the French]]; the ''Carmen Bucolicum'', a collection of 12 pastoral poems; and the unfinished epic ''[[Africa (Petrarch)|Africa]]''. He translated seven psalms, a collection known as the ''[[Penitential Psalms]]''.<ref>{{cite book|last=Sturm-Maddox|first=Sara|title=Petrarch's Laurels|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ktO1okPN0fYC&pg=PA153|year=2010|publisher=Pennsylvania State UP|isbn=978-0271040745|page=153}}</ref>

[[File:Thorvaldsen Cicero.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Petrarch revived the work and letters of the ancient [[Roman Senate|Roman Senator]] [[Cicero|Marcus Tullius Cicero]]]]Petrarch also published many volumes of his letters, including a few written to long-dead figures from history such as [[Cicero]] and [[Virgil]]. Cicero, Virgil, and [[Seneca the Younger|Seneca]] were his literary models. Most of his Latin writings are difficult to find today, but several of his works are available in English translations. Several of his Latin works are scheduled to appear in the Harvard University Press series ''I Tatti''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hup.harvard.edu/itatti/forthcoming.html |title=I Tatti Renaissance Library/Forthcoming and Published Volumes |publisher=Hup.harvard.edu |access-date=July 31, 2009}}</ref> It is difficult to assign any precise dates to his writings because he tended to revise them throughout his life.

Petrarch collected his letters into two major sets of books called ''[[Rerum familiarum liber]]'' ("[http://www.italicapress.com/index260.html Letters on Familiar Matters]") and ''[[Seniles]]'' ("[http://www.italicapress.com/index262.html Letters of Old Age]"), both of which are available in English translation.<ref>''[http://www.italicapress.com/index260.html Letters on Familiar Matters] (Rerum familiarium libri)'',  translated by Aldo S. Bernardo, 3 vols.' and ''[http://www.italicapress.com/index262.html Letters of Old Age] (Rerum senilium libri)'', translated by Aldo S. Bernardo, Saul Levin &  Reta A. Bernardo, 2 vols.</ref> The plan for his letters was suggested to him by knowledge of [[Cicero]]'s letters. These were published "without names" to protect the recipients, all of whom had close relationships to Petrarch. The recipients of these letters included [[Philippe de Cabassoles]], [[bishop of Cavaillon]]; [[Ildebrandino Conti]], [[bishop of Padua]]; [[Cola di Rienzo]], [[tribune]] of Rome; [[Francesco Nelli]], priest of the Prior of the Church of the Holy Apostles in [[Florence]]; and [[Niccolò di Capoccia]], a cardinal and priest of [[San Vitale (Rome)|Saint Vitalis]]. His "Letter to Posterity" (the last letter in ''Seniles'')<ref>[http://history.hanover.edu/texts/petrarch/pet01.html Petrarch's Letter to Posterity] (1909 English translation, with notes, by [[James Harvey Robinson]])</ref> gives an [http://petrarch.petersadlon.com/read_letters.html?s=pet01.html autobiography] and a synopsis of his philosophy in life. It was originally written in Latin and was completed in 1371 or 1372—the first such autobiography in a thousand years (since [[Saint Augustine]]).<ref>{{cite journal | author = Wilkins Ernest H | year = 1964| title = On the Evolution of Petrarch's Letter to Posterity | journal = Speculum | volume = 39 | issue = 2| pages = 304–308 | doi = 10.2307/2852733 | jstor = 2852733| s2cid = 164097201}}</ref><ref>Plumb, p. 173</ref>

While Petrarch's poetry was set to music frequently after his death, especially by Italian [[madrigal (music)|madrigal]] composers of the [[Renaissance music|Renaissance]] in the 16th century, only one musical setting composed during Petrarch's lifetime survives. This is ''Non al suo amante'' by [[Jacopo da Bologna]], written around 1350.

===Laura and poetry===
{{more citations needed section|date=April 2017}}
On 6 April 1327,<ref>6 April 1327 is often thought to be [[Good Friday]] based on poems 3 and 211 of Petrarch's ''Rerum vulgarium fragmenta'', but that date fell on Monday in 1327. The apparent explanation is that Petrarch was not referring to the variable date of Good Friday but to the date fixed by the death of Christ in absolute time, which at the time was thought to be April 6 (Mark Musa, ''Petrarch's Canzoniere'', Indiana University Press, 1996, p. 522).</ref> after Petrarch gave up his vocation as a priest, the sight of a woman called "Laura" in the church of Sainte-Claire d'[[Avignon]] awoke in him a lasting passion, celebrated in the ''Rerum vulgarium fragmenta'' ("Fragments of Vernacular Matters"). Laura may have been [[Laura de Noves]], the wife of Count [[Hugues de Sade]] (an ancestor of the [[Marquis de Sade]]). There is little definite information in Petrarch's work concerning Laura, except that she is lovely to look at, fair-haired, with a modest, dignified bearing. Laura and Petrarch had little or no personal contact. According to his "Secretum", she refused him because she was already married. He channeled his feelings into love poems that were exclamatory rather than persuasive, and wrote prose that showed his contempt for men who pursue women.  Upon her death in 1348, the poet found that his [[grief]] was as difficult to live with as was his former despair.  Later, in his "Letter to Posterity", Petrarch wrote: "In my younger days I struggled constantly with an overwhelming but pure love affair—my only one, and I would have struggled with it longer had not premature death, bitter but salutary for me, extinguished the cooling flames. I certainly wish I could say that I have always been entirely free from desires of the flesh, but I would be lying if I did".

[[File:Francesco Petrarca01.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Laura de Noves]]]]
While it is possible she was an idealized or pseudonymous character—particularly since the name "Laura" has a [[Linguistics|linguistic]] connection to the poetic "laurels" Petrarch coveted—Petrarch himself always denied it. His frequent use of ''l'aura'' is also remarkable: for example, the line "Erano i capei d'oro a ''l'aura'' sparsi" may mean both "her hair was all over Laura's body" and "the wind (''l'aura'') blew through her hair". There is psychological realism in the description of Laura, although Petrarch draws heavily on conventionalised descriptions of love and lovers from [[troubadour]] songs and other literature of [[courtly love]]. Her presence causes him unspeakable joy, but his unrequited love creates unendurable desires, inner conflicts between the ardent lover and the [[Christian mysticism|mystic Christian]], making it impossible to reconcile the two. Petrarch's quest for love leads to hopelessness and irreconcilable anguish, as he expresses in the series of paradoxes in Rima 134 "Pace non trovo, et non ò da far guerra;/e temo, et spero; et ardo, et son un ghiaccio": "I find no peace, and yet I make no war:/and fear, and hope: and burn, and I am ice".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/Italian/PetrarchCanzoniere123-183.htm#_Toc10863123|title=Petrarch (1304–1374). The Complete Canzoniere: 123–183|website=Poetryintranslation.com}}</ref>

Laura is unreachable and evanescent – descriptions of her are evocative yet fragmentary. [[Francesco de Sanctis]] praises the powerful music of his verse in his ''Storia della letteratura italiana''. Gianfranco Contini, in a famous essay ("Preliminari sulla lingua del Petrarca". Petrarca, Canzoniere. Turin, Einaudi, 1964), has described Petrarch's language in terms of "unilinguismo" (contrasted with Dantean "plurilinguismo").

=== Sonnet 227 ===
{|
! Original Italian<ref>{{Cite web | url=http://it.wikisource.org/wiki/Canzoniere_%28Rerum_vulgarium_fragmenta%29/Aura_che_quelle_chiome_bionde_et_crespe |title = Canzoniere (Rerum vulgarium fragmenta)/Aura che quelle chiome bionde et crespe |website=It.wikisource.org}}</ref>
! English translation by A.S. Kline<ref>{{Cite web | url=http://www.poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/Italian/PetrarchCanzoniere184-244.htm#_Toc11161988 |title = Petrarch (1304–1374) – the Complete Canzoniere: 184–244|website=Poetryintranslation.com}}</ref>
|-
|valign="top"|
<poem>Aura che quelle chiome bionde et crespe
cercondi et movi, et se’ mossa da loro,
soavemente, et spargi quel dolce oro,
et poi ’l raccogli, e ’n bei nodi il rincrespe,

tu stai nelli occhi ond’amorose vespe
mi pungon sí, che ’nfin qua il sento et ploro,
et vacillando cerco il mio tesoro,
come animal che spesso adombre e ’ncespe:

ch’or me ’l par ritrovar, et or m’accorgo
ch’i’ ne son lunge, or mi sollievo or caggio,
ch’or quel ch’i’ bramo, or quel ch’è vero scorgo.

Aër felice, col bel vivo raggio
rimanti; et tu corrente et chiaro gorgo,
ché non poss’io cangiar teco vïaggio?</poem>
|style="padding-left: 3em;" valign="top"|
<poem>Breeze, blowing that blonde curling hair,
stirring it, and being softly stirred in turn,
scattering that sweet gold about, then
gathering it, in a lovely knot of curls again,

you linger around bright eyes whose loving sting
pierces me so, till I feel it and weep,
and I wander searching for my treasure,
like a creature that often shies and kicks:

now I seem to find her, now I realise
she’s far away, now I’m comforted, now despair,
now longing for her, now truly seeing her.

Happy air, remain here with your
living rays: and you, clear running stream,
why can’t I exchange my path for yours?</poem>
|}