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Francesco Petrarch
This 14th-century Italian poet was a model for many who followed him. His passionate sonnets to Laura became the epitome for love poetry. Over some 40 years he wrote 366 sonnets to Laura, whom he probably never even spoke to, and they remain immediate and affecting even now. Called Rime Sparse (Scattered Rhymes), they influenced Chaucer and many others. This is an unusual addition to The Great Poets, but part of the intention of the series to cover the major stepping stones of world poetry.
1 pages, Audio CD
First published June 28, 2010
10 people want to read
About the author
Francesco Petrarca
1,154 books364 followersFamous Italian poet, scholar, and humanist Francesco Petrarca, known in English as Petrarch, collected love lyrics in
Canzoniere
.
People often call Petrarch the earliest Renaissance "father of humanism". Based on Petrarch's works, and to a lesser extent those of Dante Alighieri and Giovanni Boccaccio, Pietro Bembo in the 16th century created the model for the modern Italian language, which the Accademia della Crusca later endorsed. People credit Petrarch with developing the sonnet. They admired and imitated his sonnets, a model for lyrical poems throughout Europe during the Renaissance. Petrarch called the Middle Ages the Dark Ages.
People often call Petrarch the earliest Renaissance "father of humanism". Based on Petrarch's works, and to a lesser extent those of Dante Alighieri and Giovanni Boccaccio, Pietro Bembo in the 16th century created the model for the modern Italian language, which the Accademia della Crusca later endorsed. People credit Petrarch with developing the sonnet. They admired and imitated his sonnets, a model for lyrical poems throughout Europe during the Renaissance. Petrarch called the Middle Ages the Dark Ages.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
March 19, 2020
I must read/listen to the full works; luckily I have a copy from my university days. The narrator has a very pleasant voice and conveys the passionate language wonderfully.
One poem really stood out to me; the language, the way it was read:
I listened to this after discovering Scribd has been courteous enough to offer a no-strings-attached, free 30 day membership to help make self-isolating/quarantine during the COVID-19 outbreak more fun. No card details required. Any excuse to read more...
One poem really stood out to me; the language, the way it was read:
The ardour and the odour and dark wonder
of my sweet laurel and her golden glamour
that offered quiet from the dusky clamour.
Death that is spoiler tramples down in thunder.
As when the moon presses the proud sun under
so now my lights go out. My voices stammer.
On death I cried to hold death's heavy hammer
with such black thoughts, love tears my heart asunder.
Oh lovely lady, brief the sleep you slumbered
an instant only. Then amid the numbered
you woke to gaze with them on God's deep glory.
And if my verse its cunning still recovers,
among the noble minds the noble lovers,
it shall record your name
your deathless story.
I listened to this after discovering Scribd has been courteous enough to offer a no-strings-attached, free 30 day membership to help make self-isolating/quarantine during the COVID-19 outbreak more fun. No card details required. Any excuse to read more...
October 8, 2020
I actually listened to this collection and did not read it.
After having a discussion with a friend over who the Italian poet from the 13th century was in "Tangled Up in Blue," I did a little research and found an except from a Bob Dylan interview where he stated it was "Plutarch. Is that his name?" But Plutarch was Greek and lived well before the 13th century. Petrarch, however, was born at the beginning of the 14th century and is a reasonably close in spelling.
Petrarch had a serious thing for Laura, whom he had never spoken to, and devote a good deal of his poetry to her. He was training to be a priest and the mere sight of Laura de Noves send Petrarch into a frenzy of romantic poetry writing.*
Blessed be the Day
Oh blessed be the day, the month, the year,
the season and the time, the hour, the instant,
the gracious countryside, the place where I was
struck by those two lovely eyes that bound me;
and blessed be the first sweet agony
I felt when I found myself bound to Love,
the bow and all the arrows that have pierced me,
the wounds that reach the bottom of my heart.
And blessed be all of the poetry
I scattered, calling out my lady's name,
and all the sighs, and tears, and the desire;
blessed be all the paper upon which
I earn her fame, and every thought of mine,
only of her, and shared with no one else.
After listening the poems it is not hard to believe this is who Dylan was referring to because:
...every one of them words rang true
And glowed like burnin’ coal
Pourin’ off of every page
Like it was written in my soul from me to you
Tangled up in blue
Petrarch nails it as a romantic poet.
Next up is his complete collection of sonnets. This was enough of a taste to motivate me to read the rest of his work.
* An other story says that Laura is close to the laurels he wore around his head. I don't chose to believe that story, even though Petrarch wore enough laurels around his head that he could have been mistaken for a modern combat sniper.
After having a discussion with a friend over who the Italian poet from the 13th century was in "Tangled Up in Blue," I did a little research and found an except from a Bob Dylan interview where he stated it was "Plutarch. Is that his name?" But Plutarch was Greek and lived well before the 13th century. Petrarch, however, was born at the beginning of the 14th century and is a reasonably close in spelling.
Petrarch had a serious thing for Laura, whom he had never spoken to, and devote a good deal of his poetry to her. He was training to be a priest and the mere sight of Laura de Noves send Petrarch into a frenzy of romantic poetry writing.*
Blessed be the Day
Oh blessed be the day, the month, the year,
the season and the time, the hour, the instant,
the gracious countryside, the place where I was
struck by those two lovely eyes that bound me;
and blessed be the first sweet agony
I felt when I found myself bound to Love,
the bow and all the arrows that have pierced me,
the wounds that reach the bottom of my heart.
And blessed be all of the poetry
I scattered, calling out my lady's name,
and all the sighs, and tears, and the desire;
blessed be all the paper upon which
I earn her fame, and every thought of mine,
only of her, and shared with no one else.
After listening the poems it is not hard to believe this is who Dylan was referring to because:
...every one of them words rang true
And glowed like burnin’ coal
Pourin’ off of every page
Like it was written in my soul from me to you
Tangled up in blue
Petrarch nails it as a romantic poet.
Next up is his complete collection of sonnets. This was enough of a taste to motivate me to read the rest of his work.
* An other story says that Laura is close to the laurels he wore around his head. I don't chose to believe that story, even though Petrarch wore enough laurels around his head that he could have been mistaken for a modern combat sniper.
May 30, 2023
Okay, so I’ve read Dante’s The Divine Comedy. I’ve read Boccaccio’s The Decameron. But I keep reading that along with those two, the big three of early Italian literature includes some guy named Francesco Petrarca or ‘Petrarch.’ Those in the know, for centuries afterward, couldn’t say enough good things about him. Still, all I can find from that guy is a handful of sonnets swooning over some girl named Laura. At least, that’s all I can find that doesn’t require me to read Latin or the medieval Tuscan dialect.
Anyway, Petrarch loves Laura from afar. Like a lovesick teenager, he writes some poems. Laura dies. Petrarch is sad.
So there you have it.
Anyway, Petrarch loves Laura from afar. Like a lovesick teenager, he writes some poems. Laura dies. Petrarch is sad.
So there you have it.
March 23, 2020
Was alright....
November 30, 2021
Tradition of courtly love, weird stalker sad boi poetry, egoistic nod to laurels worn? You decide
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews