Selections from the Canzoniere and Other Works by Francesco Petrarca

Selections from the Canzoniere and Other Works Reviews

• 
  Justin Evans

  A model selected poems, inasmuch as it's short, contains a couple of prose pieces, and every single poem is worth reading. This is particularly impressive, inasmuch as I don't care at all about love poetry... and Petrarch launched more love poets than any one else, ever. But that's because he's so good, even if his epigones are not.
  
  Of the two prose pieces, the 'Letter to Posterity' is less essential; Mark Musa's lovely introduction is more readable, and gives you the same information. But 'The Ascent of Mount Ventoux' is fascinating as a self-standing piece--a more or less fictional letter, describing events that probably didn't happen, obviously harking back to Dante and forward to anyone who's ever stood at the base of a mountain and thought "my, that's pretty," as well as everyone who's ever thought that maybe they could be a better person. I wasn't prepared for how approachable it was; highly recommended.
  
  As for the poems, I can't help but prefer the more political, and the more melancholy, rather than the "my lover's super hot, man" stuff. Consider the anger in 136,
  
  May heaven's fire pour down on your tresses
  since doing evil gives you so much pleasure,
  impious one, who, after stream and acrons
  got fat and rich by starving other people,
  
  you nest of treachery in which is hatched
  all evil that today spreads through the world,
  you slave of wine, of bedrooms, and of food,
  high testing-ground for every kind of lust!
  
  Usw. The New Atheists have nothing on the renaissance/medieval pious when it comes to ripping the church.
  
  And Musa's translations are charming, and occasionally excellent self-standing poems. Consider the second stanza of 190, which inspired Wyatt's famous Whoso List to Hunt:
  
  The sigh of her was so sweetly austere
  that I left all my work to follow her,
  just like a miser who in search of treasure
  with pleasure makes his effort bitterless.
  
  Not sure I know what that means, but who cares? I plan to use 'bitterless' in everything I say or write from now on. Not to mention, tackling more Petrarch.
• 
  Diem

  This started out as a rather lovely book of short essays and poems. Perfectly charming and easy to read. Then sh!t got real. By the middle of the book I was entranced by Petrarch's beautiful and poignant imagery and metaphor. I can only imagine how beautifully it reads in Italian. And how stirring it would have been as a novel approach to verse writing at the time of its creation. Beautiful.
• 
  Jeff Crompton

  This short collection has two essays and 40-some-odd poems by the great 14th century Italian writer. The essays show Petrarch to be a thoughtful, intelligent man with, however, a fairly high opinion of himself. But the poems, mostly concerning his doomed love of the mysterious Laura, are moving and multifaceted.
• 
  Becky

  Every time I read one of Petrarch's poems, I am amazed! I love the romance and the beauty of each of his poems. The fact that he was able to write all these wonderful sonnets about one brief moment (or even sight) of an Italian woman, still gives me chills.
• 
  K.

  319.
• 
  Victoria Hawco

  Suck it up Petrarch.
• 
  L.R.

  There is nothing worse than an unreciprocated love.
  
  At one time or another, we all come to recognize the bitter truth of this statement. Some of us have recovered from our Beatrices and Lauras, while others try to grapple with love's luminous peril being lost to them. Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch) falls into the latter category.
  
  Mark Musa, whose edition of the Divine Comedy I recently reviewed, is also the translator of this selection. He places a strong emphasis on Petrarch's "Augustinian" nature: someone who struggles between the "Flesh and the Spirit", the love of Laura and the love of God. The two letters which form a sort of introduction set up this theme quite well. Here is Petrarch, a young poet and cleric, who recognizes a personal and existential contradiction within himself. And because of this conflict between his personal youthful desire and the realities of life, this gives him good reason to be considered the Italian Renaissance's forbearer.
  
  As for the Canzoniere selections themselves, I found them highly edifying. The lyrical play between unrequited love, the role of the Sacred, and the natural metaphors create a liminal space for Petrarch to explore the one sole thing he desired, but never could attain. If Musa's work moved me, I cannot imagine how powerful the Italian is.
• 
  kristen tan

  4.5/5
  read for hum. i cant believe im about to say this but petrarch is so sexy
• 
  James Healy

  4.5
• 
  Kirill Meshkov

  His poems are like Coldplay albums, indistinguishable.
• 
  Cary Brecher

  he needs to get over her
  
• 
  Daniel

  This Oxford World's Classics edition of Petrarch's poetry contains two letters (his famous letter to his Parisian confessor, "The Ascent of Mont Ventoux," & his "Letter to Posterity") as well as a selection of pieces from his 366-poem Song Book, Il Canzoniere (pronounced CanzoNIEre). The Song Book was largely inspired by Petrarch's adoration of and love for Laura de Noves. Petrarch was a highly introspective man, and in the songs he charts his shifting feelings for Laura from the moment he first beheld her that fateful day in the Avignon cathedral until her death and beyond. Il Canzoniere is divided into two parts: "Before Laura's Death" and "After Laura's Death." Most of the poems are heart-wrenchingly sad, with Petrarch lavishing rapturous compliments on his beloved only to weep bitter tears about her merciless indifference to his love (he calls her a "beast" a few times). Laura was already married when Petrarch first saw her, so he didn't stand a chance with her. In my favorite sonnet, he compares himself to a foolish butterfly, who flying about on a warm summer day, flutters longingly toward the sun, as butterflies do, only to crash into a woman's face, inciting tears and causing her to pound him out of existence. That woman is Laura, and the incident causes him to lament not so much his extermination from the planet as her cruel disdain toward his passion her:
  
  141
  
  As at times in hot sunny weather
  a guileless butterfly accustomed to the light,
  flies in its wanderings into someone’s face,
  causing it to die, and the other to weep:
  
  so I am always running towards the sunlight of her eyes,
  fatal to me, from which so much sweetness comes
  that Love takes no heed of the reins of reason:
  and he who discerns them is conquered by his desire.
  
  And truly I see how much disdain they have for me,
  and I know I am certain to die of them,
  since my strength cannot counter the pain:
  
  but Love dazzles me so sweetly,
  that I weep for the other’s annoyance, not my hurt:
  and my soul consents blindly to its death.
  
  The poems Petrarch wrote while Laura was still alive track his unrequited love for Laura--and the tumult of being enamored of someone who, for all his devotion, he could never possess. He sees Laura in the clouds, in the fields, in the streams, in the trees. He's perpetually haunted by her. He vacillates endlessly between hope and despair. He transforms her into a paragon and emblem of all that is beautiful and good. He uses his love to fuel and energize his poems; he writes his thoughts down to alleviate his 24/7 heartache.
  
  The songs take a decidedly gloomy turn after Laura's death. Petrarch becomes increasingly aware of the fleeting nature of earthly delights, meditating with increasing morbidity on the futility life. He struggles to relinquish his love of fame and even of Laura; he struggles to accept his own mortality and tries to looks forward to the next life, although it pains him to leave his earthy life behind. These poems--most of them sonnets--are highly sensitive articulations of the feelings one who is on the brink of death inevitably feels: they register the deep ambivalence he felt toward life, death, glory, and the woman who inspired and tortured him with her beauty throughout his adulthood. On the verge of death, he renounces all and awaits his death, where he hopes to see his beloved Laura again. This time, she will notice him and be glad to see him.
• 
  Maan Kawas

  A fascinating collection of Petrarch’s Canzoniere that demonstrates the poets mastery and talents! Although the main theme of the collection is the poet’s love to Laura, who inspired him these Canzoniere, still these poems addresses different issues and themes. The poet talks about his first meeting with Laura and his falling in love at first sight with her, his suffering in love, the unrequited love, the paradox of pleasure and pain he experienced as a result of his love. However, the Canzoniere tackles other themes as well, such as the passing of time, nature of love, religion, and political issues, and glory. These collection was written in the vernacular language, and the translating is a beautiful and enchanting one. What is particularly charming in the Canzoniere is Petrarch’s analysis of his own mental states and emotions, which might signify that the poems are also about him too, not only Laura; namely about his lived experience. The collection includes different forms, but the sonnets constitute the majority of these forms (the others include sestine, madrigals, and ballate), and the made an important effect on sonnet writing then, not only in Italy. I enjoyed the book too much, especially, because it starts with two letters by Petrarch, the great Italian Laureate poet, that shed light on the man, who was seeking glory. I even enjoyed the introduction that provided important information about Petrarch.
• 
  Rhys

  Petrarch is one of the most important poets in the European tradition, but the reason I bought this volume was to read 'The Ascent of Mount Ventoux', the letter detailing his ascent of the mountain in the company of his brother and two servants, generally regarded as the first substantial account of climbing a mountain in existing literature. I am a devotee of mountain literature, so this was a necessary text for me, and it didn't disappoint. The book is worth it for this one piece. His 'Letter to Posterity' is also interesting, an account of his life that isn't self-indulgent and which opens a narrow window on the world of the 14th Century in Europe.
  
  As for the poems... now I have to admit my own weakness. I didn't enjoy them. I didn't understand them, although it is clear that they are only about one subject: his love for a girl called Laura, a love so obsessive and all-encompassing that it feels almost like a self-parody. My mind kept wandering as I read these poems. I couldn't concentrate on the words. I read them dutifully but absorbed nothing. I guess that lyrical poetry just isn't my thing!
• 
  Matthew

  This is my first exposure to the famous Italian poet and humanist, Petrarch. This book is a small collection of his works which I think beautifully sum up his life and work.
  
  There are three parts in this edition: The Letter to Posterity, Ascent of Mont Ventoux and a selection of works from the Canzoniere. The first is an autobiographical piece that is written with fabulous wit and detail. The second is a more philosophical and religious piece, which I did not enjoy as much as the first. The third and main part is the poetry from the Canzoniere. These are evocative and didactic poems that Petrarch wrote about a woman, Laura, whom he saw only once, but she instantly became his muse. The selections of poetry are great insights into the lovesickness felt by Petrarch, as well as his laments on life and death after learning of the death of his love.
  
  All in all, this is a superbly translated version of Petrarch’s work, keeping with the original emotion. It is a quick and easy to read selection that I would recommend to anyone interested in the brilliant Petrarch.
  
  5/5
• 
  Walker White

  This is an essential volume of Petrarch's poetry which also includes two superlative pieces of prose writing that highlight his importance as the "first humanist." The translation reads well and Petrarch's work speaks for itself. Not only is he important for his contribution to the development Sonnet form, but his ideas and conflicts about love, worldly glory, spirituality, and the overwhelming temporality of life have lost none of their power.
• 
  Ann Marie

  interesting read, and I got the impression that though his love for Laura is almost creepy at times, in some places it is not so much about a woman as his desire for glory....his love poems are maybe about more than just love
• 
  Paul Jellinek

  Gloomy but ultimately very moving love poems from one of the great poets of the Renaissance.
• 
  Michael Arnold

  I really wanted to like this book, but I did not think I would like it as much as I do! This is actually perfect in it's own little way.
• 
  Tori

  turns out they don't name a type of sonnet after you for nothing
• 
  David Alexander

  Selections from the Canzoniere and Other Works by Petrarch (Oxford World Classics)
  
  Plutarch's description of his spiritual experience climbing Mount Ventoux with his younger brother was moving. "The Ascent of Mount Ventoux: To Dionisio Da Borgo San Sepolcro" is an interesting piece of autobiographical material which seems to elucidate much of Plutarch's mindset behind his arete, behind the excellence of his writings. He describes how, while mountain climbing, he kept seeking to take an easier side path and each time it ended up being a waste of his time and strength, instead of taking the direct, difficult way of ascent that his brother consistently took. It drove him to reflection on his spiritual failing. "I rejoiced in my progress, mourned for my weaknesses, and took pity on the universal inconstancy of human conduct." When a top the mountain, he opened a small volume of Augustine's Confessions at random, (in a way similar to Augustine's opening the Scriptures at random as recounted in the Confessions in a testimony of his conversion), and the first words his eyes saw were: "And men go about admiring the high mountains and the mighty waves of the sea and the wide sweep of rivers and the sound of the ocean and the movement of the stars, but they themselves they abandon." This piqued my interest more in Plutarch.
  It might be said that Plutarch is struggling in this letter and in his poems to see with the symbolic imagination, rather than to sink into a mere immanence, characteristic of modern atheism. He sees the marvelous beauty and splendor of created things, and he is wrapt in adoring devotion to Laura, but also birthing a transcendent vision through the medium of her beauty and virtue.
  In the introduction to this volume by Mark Musa, he makes the observation, "One might say Petrarch loved Petrarch more than anything or anyone else, and because of this he kept detailed records of his life and works." That strikes me as damning, but the aforementioned letter makes me wonder, and admittedly hope, that I will find in Petrarch's poetry more than just excessive self-love. The quote from Augustine points to a self-focus of self-examen as something evaded in the quest for adventure and experience, something of core significance. Many of Jesus' words seem to enjoin such a self-examination, and spur on to it.
  The atheist might be said to suborn, or suppress the idea of sin, diving into a mere immanence. They avoid knowing themselves.
  I am reminded of the words of Dante in Paradiso:
  "this is no crossing for a little bark - the sea that my audacious prow now cleaves-
  Nor for a helmsman who would spare himself…" I take his "audacious prow" to mean the Divine Comedy itself which he has written. In another Canto he described the poem in these terms:
  " If this sacred poem--
  This work so shared by heaven and by earth
  That it has made me lean through these long years…"
  Dante recognized the worth of his poem and also alludes to the rigor it cost him in writing it, an undertaking that was not for "a helmsman who would spare himself." Like Dante, Petrarch's elder contemporary, Petrarch recognizes in the metaphor of his experience with ascent of the mountain, that he must not be a helmsman who would spare himself- he must come to know himself.
  I continue to be suspicious of Petrarch even though my admiration for his charm grows with direct exposure to his work.
  In the second of the Canzoniere, Petrarch describes his state of being overcome with love for Laura when his strength was in his heart, and being defenseless from the passion. He describes love as unable "to lead me cleverly back up the high, hard mountain, saving me from slaughter." The footnote says "the high, hard mountain" is the symbol for Reason. It seems to me there is also an allusion to Petrarch's spiritual experience in the ascent.
  Canzoniere 22 is a very beautiful and fascinating description of his passionate love for Laura.
  
  Petrarch and Dante's examples as devoted craftsmen who accepted the deliberate rigor they were called to is challenging and bracing to me. I recognize in Petrarch's self-description a similarity with myself- a preferring of the easier path, of comfort at the expense of the cross I am called to.
  
  **
  
  I finished the selection of Plutarch's Canzoniere today. I am impressed by the level of his self-expression, the nuance and the refinement of it, and at once the immediacy and intimacy of the poems. I can now say I've had direct exposure to his greatness.
  
  "The sluggard is a coward. He has no love for work, and therefore he is always ready to cheat his soul, 'inventing some vain excuse, so he will not have to do his duty,' reads Reformer's Notes. He shrinks from every work likely to involve trouble. Fancied dangers frighten him from real and present duties. There is a lion without- I shall be slain in the streets- an absurd excuse! As if public streets except in special cases, were the haunts of wild beasts. He is afraid of being slain outside when he willingly gives himself up to be slain within." -Charles Bridges, A Modern Study of the Book of Proverbs, pg. 486-87 commentary on Proverbs 22:13
• 
  Carolyn

  The author Petrarch, Italy in the 1300s, is where we get all those love poem tropes! He was influential, I’m pretty sure, because he’s the kind of author who inspires readers to go away and write some of that too, and therefore we got generations of poems to perfectly noble and beautiful ladies.
  
  It’s actually a little brain-bending. He’s outspokenly Christian and also had a years-long unrequited passion for Laura. This caused a certain amount of inner conflict.
  
  His writings are all short and to the point, and tend to be organized around a bright central image, so a decent amount of the poem-ness carries through in translation. And, as mentioned above, you may go away oozing poetry of your own.
  
  Besides love poems, we also have here a handful of (then) current event poems and a literal mountaintop spiritual experience, heavily inspired by Augustine’s Confessions. WHO KNEW.
• 
  Paul

  Two essays and a selection of Petrarch's poems. If you're looking for the poems referenced in the catalog of the Metropolitan Museum's Medici show (summer 2021) you need a more complete edition. What you have here is a fine introduction to his work.
• 
  Jim

  Nice pomes.
• 
  جاسم كلمد

  "ah, nothing but our tears last in this world!"
• 
  julia

  beautiful writing about love and life
• 
  Edward Christie

  What if an Italian guy was horny
• 
  Frankie DeGiorgio

  hate to say it but this fucked too!!