Aldo S. Bernardo Petrarch, Laura, and the Triumphs 1974

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Aldo S. Bernardo

State University of New York Press Albany 1974

title: Petrarch, Laura, and the Triumphs

author: Bernardo, Aldo S.

publisher: State University of New York Press

isbn10 | asin: 0873952898

print isbn13: 9780873952897

ebook isbn13: 9780585087047

language: English

subject Petrarca, Francesco,--1304-1374--Relations withwomen, Noves, Laura de,--1308-1348, Petrarca, Francesco,--1304-1374.--Trionfi.

publication date: 1974

lcc: PQ4511.B47 1974eb

ddc: 851/.1

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Published with assistance from the University Awards Committee of State University of New York

Petrarch, Laura, and the Triumphs First Edition

Printed in the United States of America

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Bernardo, Aldo S.

Petrarch, Laura, and the Triumphs. Bibliography: p.

Includes index.

1. Petrarca, Francesco, 1304-1374with womenLaura de Noves. Relationship. 2. Noves, Laura de, 1308-1348. 3. Petrarca, Francesco, 1304-1374. Trionfi. I. Title.

PQ4511.B47 851'.I 74-22084 ISBN 0-87395-289-8

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Preface

Only in Petrarch's coronation oration is it possible to gain real insight into his

quasi-mystical attitude toward poetry. In it one senses the poet's thorough dedication to the art not only as an activity reserved for the chosen few, but one on a par with the loftiest human activity of all, maintaining, protecting, and defending one's homeland. Poets, like Caesars, are deeply involved in assuring a better and happier future for mankind. Both must possess a spark of divinity, for mere labor and dedication do not assure either Caesars or poets. This is why the ultimate reward for both is symbolized in the laurel crown whose leaves partake of qualities assuring an eternity of fame. Through his song the poet must instill in his reader or listener a desire for virtue, in the sense of ben far, just as in his battle and struggles a ruler seeks to accomplish a stable future for his subjects. 1

In my book on the Africa2_{I try to show the manner in which Scipio Africanus provided} Petrarch with a nearly ideal subject for his kind of poetry. A central point of the study is that in the Africa, "Scipio summarizes in Latin a humanistic ideal whose counterpart

Petrarch had tried all his life to define in Italian through the image of Laura: a concept of virtue that complements a concept of glory in a way that makes both acquire

near-Christian hues."3_{In the very first chapter of that book I also try to establish that in} Petrarch's aesthetic and moral philosophy there is the central conviction that ultimate truth lies in the perfect fusion of the values inherent in poetry, history, and philosophythat is to say, in beauty, glory and virtue. Just as in Scipio Petrarch thought he saw the

ultimate answer to the obvious clash between classical and Christian values, so in Laura he sought a resolution to the conflict between spirit and flesh.

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corona-tion oracorona-tion and as applied in the Africa, it is odd to speak of his love poetry as mere outcries of the heart over an unrequited love simply because it is written in the

vernacular. The fact that so much of Petrarch's vernacular poetry was written during his sojourns in Provence when the great bulk of his writing was in Latin, plus the fact that he continued revising his lyrics down to the very last years of his life would seem to support the contention that he deemed his subject matter rather than the language used of truly central importance. From the moment he decided to give a definitive form to his

collection of lyrics he indicated his intention to endow the resulting body of poetry with dimensions of meaning reflecting the high seriousness of learned Latin poetry.

Exactly what Petrarch sang when he celebrated Laura is a question that was asked by the earliest commentators, but has been forgotten since the Romantics. The very fact that Petrarch, as Dante before him, turns to a special form and metre in his attempt to sing more appropriately of his beloved reveals a highly serious desire to endow Laura with a dimension that goes beyond her image in the Canzoniere. It is indeed the Triumphs that provide the catalyst sought by Petrarch to achieve the desired fusion of poetry, history and philosophy. This consisted of a female figure that was considerably different from the beloved of the Rime. Her role encompassed far more than one time, one place and one man, while her greatest moments were her victories over cupidity and over time. She was indeed a prefiguration of what the Romantics were later to call "the eternal feminine," and yet she was much more, for she was the outgrowth of what has been called "The Chartrian ideal of a 'cohaerentia artium,' a perfect marriage of Philology and Mercury." 4 The purpose of this study is to analyze the poetic image of Laura from as many

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Laura of the Triumphs thus seemingly emerges as a figure showing the way to man's moral, cultural and aesthetic fulfillment. As with Scipio in the Africa, however, she too suffers considerably from the ambiguities resulting from the unfinished state of the Triumphs. She nevertheless spawned a number of subsequent female figures that

became an integral part of the imaginative literature of Humanism, as the Conclusion will show.

I am primarily indebted to the Guggenheim Foundation for a grant that allowed me to spend a semester in the libraries of Florence in 196465 when a close reading of the early commentators convinced me of the viability of my thesis. I am also grateful to the

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Introductory Notes

Quotations from the works of Petrarch are taken from the following editions unless otherwise indicated:

Canzoniere

Ed. by Gianfranco Contini (Turin, 1964). Triumphs

Trionfi, ed. Carlo Calcaterra (Turin, 1927). Bucolicum carmen

Ed. by Antonio Avena (Padua, 1906). Epistolae metricae

Poemata minora, ed. by Domenico Rossetti, Vols. II-III (Milan, 1831-1834). Epistolae familiares

Le familiari, Vols. I-III ed. by V. Rossi and Vol. IV ed. by Rossi and Umberto Bosco (Florence, 1933-1942).

Epistolae seniles

Lettere senile, trans. by G. Fracassetti, 2 vols. (Florence, 1869-1870). Secretum

Prose, ed. by G. Martellott, P. G. Ricci, E. Carrara, and E. Bianchi (Milan and Naples, 1955), pp. 22-215.

Coronation Oration

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1 Laura and the Critics

_*

There is no disputing the fact that throughout Petrarch's life the two most consistent sources of inspiration for his poetry were Scipio and Laura. In these two personages Petrarch apparently saw the kind of foundations on which he felt that true poetry should rest. In my book on Petrarch, Scipio and the Africa 1_{I have analyzed Scipio's role in}

Petrarch's poetic imagination. In this book I wish to do the same with Laura in an attempt to show that the two are really complementary and represent, as it were, the opposite sides of the same coin. Whereas in his abortive epic on Scipio's African campaigns Petrarch attempted a fusion of Livy, Cicero and Virgil in the hope of producing a distinctive work which enclosed the inherent values of History and Philosophy in the glittering wrappings of Poetry; in his Canzoniere and Triumphs Petrarch sought to sing and fuse the concomitant human ideals of Glory and Virtue within the wrappings of

Beauty, starting with a highly personal vision and ending with on unsuccessful attempt to objectify the vision and apply it to Mankind generally.

Down through the ages, commentators and critics of Petrarch's Italian works have dealt with Laura in a great variety of ways. Generally speaking, the very earliest commentators showed concern either for her identity or for her allegorical significance. Following the biography by the Abbé De Sade in the eighteenth century,2_{interest in Laura's exact} identity began to wane. Nineteenth century Petrarchan criticism became primarily philologicalaesthetic,

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and Laura was viewed basically as a beloved whose beauty had moved Petrarch to lyrical song throughout most of his life. In keeping with the evolution of literary criticism since then, subsequent critics have tended to disregard all the philological implications of Laura, stressing rather her role as a persistent psychological stimulus of a complex love drama. 3_{As yet, no one, with the possible exception of Carlo Calcaterra, has undertaken} a truly comprehensive study showing the evolution or even the vicissitudes of Laura as a purely poetic image either in the chronological succession of individual poems as Petrarch wrote them and as they appear in the Canzoniere, or in the ordering of the poems as the Canzoniere progressed from one form to the next. Nor, for that matter, has anyone

attempted to indicate in any extensive degree the distinction or connection between the Laura of the Canzoniere and the Laura of the Triumphs. Since, however, previous criticism has afforded some insights into the problem, it might be well to examine briefly the views of those major critics who seemed to have the most to say on the subject.

i. De Sanctis

In his Saggio critico sul Petrarca4_{De Sanctis distinguishes between the accomplishments} of Petrarch the man of letters and Petrarch the poet by noting that ''Le sue fatiche di erudito gli hanno acquistato uno de' primi luoghi tra i benemeriti delle lettere; ma la gloria, il nome di grand'uomo glieli'hanno acquistato le sue rime. E giunto a noi,

accompagnato con Laura" (p. 45). In tracing the particular directions taken by love poetry in Italy, De Sanctis states: "Il concetto fondamentale è l'amore religiosamente chiamato amicizia spirituale, e filosoficamente platonica, che suppone un'amata onesta ed un amante cortese e gentile; un amore fonte di virtù, e, come dice il Petrarca, 'd'animosa leggiadria,' tale cioè che dà animo ad opere leggiadre" (p. 49). Each love poet,

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through-out causes De Sanctis to pose the problem of how best to define Laura. He concludes that "Laura è una Dea, non è ancora una donna . . . è il genere, il femminile." She has not yet assumed human for nor entered the stream of human events. She is rather Man's ideal in life's journey, his star, the beacon that marks his ultimate destination. As with earlier conventional types, she is an exemplar of perfection that directs the soul to the contemplation of heavenly things. "E scala al Fattore, i suoi occhi mostrano la via che conduce al cielo, da lei viene virtù e santità." And yet, as with Dante, Petrarch's Platonic-Christian tendencies prompted him to imply such super-human traits without losing sight of the beloved's earthly body. It is always Laura's physical beauties that provide the jumping-off point. Indeed, for De Sanctis, "Laura è la più bella creatura del Medio Evo, e non ha altra vicina che Beatrice. Il poeta ne ha fatta una gloriosa trasfigurazione" (pp. 85-88).

De Sanctis' critical acumen emerges full force in his attempt to define this transformation. Laura, he says, is like an actress before the play starts. She is not yet mother, bride, or mistress; nor is she any particular woman in any particular situation. She is like a closed book and almost like inert, spiritless nature. "Di qui quella quietudine d'aspetti che è proprio della natura, e che esprime assenza di moto e di passione. . . ." She is in the

middle of events and yet remains outside them; she is on earth and yet no human misery touches her. One almost feels that she is beyond death.

Although today this poetic creature appears cold and unreal, "è la creature più reale che il Medio Evo . . . poteva produrre. . . . Reale non solo in sé, ma ben più nel Petrarca; non in quello che sente, ma in quello che fa sentire, perché, se Laura è una Dea, Petrarca è un uomo." She cannot stand alone or apart. She lives only for Petrarch and with Petrarch. What the reader sees is not a particular Laura, but one as seen by Petrarch at a particular moment. The fact that Petrarch never seems to see her in precisely the same way twice is what constitutes her great and unusual beauty. Laura is a being whom Petrarch does not understand because he cannot make up his mind as to whether love of such a

creature is sinful. Unlike Dante he takes no clear and definite stand, but rather wavers (pp. 90-94).

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than the woman. As a result, the reader is moved but not disturbed when ". . . il poeta obblia i moti del cuore, le discordie della coscienza, e come farfalla gira intorno alla luce dell'immagine. Questa è la sua tendenza; qui è la sua sincerità e il suo genio. Il dolore è bello, la lacrima è bella; anche la morte è bella, anche la morte l'innamora: non la morte di chicchessia, la morte di Laura" (pp. 108-112). So accustomed had Petrarch become to enjoying his visions of Laura in his imagination that when in Chiare, fresche e dolci acque (No. 126) the poet's ecstasy in beholding Laura's deification comes to an end, there is no lament over its end (p. 188).

Laura's death brings to an end all indecision and wavering. In the poet's grief one feels not only the death of Laura, but the death of all passion and of worldly disenchantments. The new situation "è una tomba, che a poco a poco si trasforma in un paradiso: è la morte, dal cui seno spunta la vita nuova." His grief thus remains purely elegiac; it does not become tragic. There is no resignation or rebellion, but an inexhaustible lament that lightens the poet's grief. As a pure creature of the poet's imagination, Laura in death appears more alive than ever. This theme of death being the true life gives rise to "un contenuto straordinariamente meraviglioso, un mondo che è proprio il rovescio del mondo volgare." The poet's heart, having died with Laura, "risuscita insieme con lei in questo paradiso dell'amore" (pp. 191-207).

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When, towards the end, Petrarch begins to see his love story as though another's and to view it with the calm eye of a spectator, Laura vacillates and dies. "E se si volge a Dio, non è già passione, ma stanchezza d'ogni passione." The Triumphs suffer the same fault, for they too view Man "fuori dell'azione e della passione, nel punto che sono soggiaciuti, vale a dire quando ogni storia ed ogni interesse è finito. . . ." When, however, the

Triumphs become essentially a second framework within which to view the drama of the two lovers, then do we once again glimpse the master's hand despite a certain

weariness. Even at the very end, when the poet comes closest to imparting epic qualities to his poem, it is the lyrical tone that interferes and we find Laura assuming the

proportions of Creation itself as the poet sings: "La notte che seguì l'orribil caso/ Che spense 'l Sol, anzi 'l ripose in cielo" (pp. 227-237).

ii. Croce

For Benedetto Croce also Petrarch's love represents a complicated experience, not so much because it roared into his life like a blinding hurricane, but because it penetrated all of his being completely and forever and became its center and its fulcrum. 5_{Since this} love caused the poet to dare "patteggiar con la morte," it follows that the very soul of that love was indeed a passion and not a religious, moral, political or other ideal. While it is true that the poet does call upon the Christian God and the Virgin for support, "il suo Dio o la sua dea, il suo ethos, la sua politica appassionante si chiamò Laura." This pervasive love is highly human, entailing as it does "il ricambio e il possesso," and the poet's perennial disappointed hope. When the poet asserts that his love raises him to the Eternal Good and teaches him the straight path to heaven, it is a mere manner of

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passes from a beautiful dream of profane love "al sogno di una sorta di umanizzamento e profanamento del paradiso." Dante would never have placed his Francesca in paradise, "ma il Petrarca v'innalzò Laura, così sensibilmente e sensualmente da lui amata e

idoleggiata." His desire to turn from earthly things, his calling his love "non degno," his view of God as his true refuge, ''è cotesta un'aggiunta, perfettamente conforme a quel che abbiamo chiamato il suo mondo teorico, ma che non può spegnere la calda vita di quel che sentì e cantò da poeta."

Croce thinks it wrong to call Laura an ideal which afforded Petrarch spiritual sanity, for his love was a passion "che tiranneggiarlo ed estasiarlo poteva e non punto infondergli il calmo vigore della regola accettata." Nor can the poet's love be viewed within a religious framework, for Laura never resembles a demon of perdition. What makes Petrarch's love poetry truly modern is that "in lui pel primo si vede l'aspirazione a un'inconseguibile

beatitudine nell'amore di una creatura, magicamente concepita come datrice di perfetta beatitudine; la felicità ricercata nel sentimento e nella passione, ossia nel particolare non redento nell'universale ma posto esso come l'universale; con la disperazione e la

malinconia che a ciò segue o s'accompagna, col senso continuo della caducità e della morte e del disfacimento." In Croce's opinion, the principal quality of Petrarch's poetry was defined by Carducci when, in speaking of his canzoni, he asserted that we see the poet continually "sighing among the laurels."

iii. Calcaterra

In his series of studies that appeared in 1942 under the significant title of Nella selva del Petrarca, 6_{Carlo Calcaterra undertook to trace the evolution of Petrarch's spiritual and} artistic development by analyzing the changing aspects of Laura's image as she appears in Petrarch's poetry. Following a general survey of the opposing schools of thought on what constitutes Petrarch's essential greatness, Calcaterra concentrates on the basic view of contemporary critics who see a profound human orientation as the keystone of

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greatness. In redefining Petrarch's spiritual dilemma, these critics agree that Petrarch's great struggle against the torments of the flesh was rooted in the conviction that sensual pleasure in itself could not be the end of man. Yet, his strong desire for glory and

prominence, and his sense of superiority arising from his awareness that his personal ideals derived from his intimate knowledge of all that was best in antiquity, were

counterbalanced by a sense of his own limits and those of human powers generally. This led to a strong awareness of the vanity of earthly striving and of the strong contrast between what is transitory and what is eternal (pp. 1-8).

It is at this point that Calcaterra begins to interject his own interpretation of the drama that Petrarch lived throughout his life. "Nei giorni radiosi della giovinezza, quando il volto di Laura gli apparve come la bellezza della vita, e l'arte del dire e la gloria come la

ragione e il fine del suo operare, per sua stessa confessione fu così preso da un'ebrezza pagana e apollinea, che quasi pose in quelle affascinanti immagini la dolcezza del vivere, anzi l'apice della felicità (felicitatis apicem)." But he was also plagued by the sense of transitoriness of all things. It is within this context that Petrarch has St. Augustine remind him of the intimate religion of his early youth and express the fear that "quel fiore fuor di stagione fosse scosso e abbattuto dai forti venti di primavera, che, se fosse rimasto sano e intatto, avrebbe a suo tempo prodotto un frutto mirabile." For Calcaterra, the

''springtime of strong winds" fell between 1327 and 1342 when the poet's passion for Laura and desire for glory led him into a "splendid abyss" from which he managed to extricate himself following the spiritual crisis of 1335-1342 during which the Christian religion played the central role. The poet's spiritual state at this time could best be

described by a phrase appearing in the Secretum with its clear Augustinian ring: "Sentio inexpletum quoddam in praecordiis meis semper." This, for Calcaterra, is not the

inexpletum of a Leopardi or of an Amiel, but of a Christian wayfarer who had been

bewitched by an evanescent earthly beauty, had consequently found himself trapped in a splendid abyss and had tried desperately to rise above it.

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of Laura and on the green laurel, "simbolo della poesia ispiratagli dall'amore inafferrabile, giacché Laura, come Dafne per Apollo, non poteva essere per lui se non poesia. . . ." As a result, this earliest poetry, best represented in canzone No. 23, Nel dolce tempo della prima etade, is essentially literary, academic and Parnassian, as are all subsequent

poems that repeat this same theme. They all have as their primary focus the spellbinding contemplation of a beautiful image.

In the Secretum Petrarch condemns this early bent for pure imagery as "delirationes." Yet he could not turn his back upon it, and came to regard it as an example of his "primo giovenile errore," and of his "vario stile." Already in 1338 he had admitted that he had become ''preda degli spiriti immondi e ludibrio dei cani famelici delle passioni." In time his poetic horizons widened beyond the Daphnean. The irreproachable conduct of Laura

inspired him to superimpose a Christian view of woman on his beloved. He thus began to endow his image of Laura with the characteristics necessary to convert her into a

ladyguide to the Christian heaven. Later, indeed, he anchored the entire architecture of the Canzoniere in the spiritual contrast between the two configurations with the ultimate victory of the latter, and even referred to the region where his love had evolved as ". . . il mio Parnaso" (pp. 8-18). The general architecture of the Canzoniere is consequently not only aesthetic but moral and religious in its attempt to reflect this "redenzione interiore" (p. 32). The structure emerges from the alternating of the two basic themes of the

Parnasia laurus with its Apollonian contemplation, and the di sesto d'aprile with its implication of Christian redemption (p. 44).

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Petrarch's poetry and of Petrarch's awareness of the strong pulls exercised upon him by both the profane and the sacred (pp. 50-55). For Calcaterra, the true beauty of the Canzoniere emerges when the two themes of Laura-Daphne and Lauraguide-to-heaven are complemented by an imaginative handling of the inexpletum quoddam (p. 71). The prevailing Daphne theme of the earlier poems ended with the writing of the

Secretum and of the poem on Glory, No. 119. From that moment the poet's search turned to the laurel of Virtue, having assimiliated the Ciceronian-Senecan concept that virtue possesses a loftier value than glory. This new direction is also symbolized in the "Triumph of Chastity" when Laura solemnly places her crown and Cupid's spoils in the Temple of Chastity in Rome. Calcaterra finds it significant that in sestina No. 142, which presumably closed the first form of the Canzoniere, the two concepts are juxtaposed as if calling for a choice, and that in the second part of the poem the poet turns to a "new love" and a "new tree" which are the Christian God and Heaven (pp. 75-77). Yet, the perennial

wavering recurs shortly afterwards, in No. 148, where the traditional laurel appears once again. Indeed, in the final form of the Canzoniere, the very last poem on Laura alive, No. 263, is a hymn to the laurel. Following Laura's death, the image of the earthly laurel breaks in poem No. 269. The poet's attempt to sanctify the laurel in No. 228 is never followed through, but in his ordering of the poems so as to ''far quasi un poema lirico del giovenile errore e della sua purificazione," a point of juncture is reached in the tercets of No. 289 which express the conviction that the poet had procured a justifiable glory for his beloved inasmuch as she had "oprato virtute" in him. In such wise does the poet fuse the two themes of the donna lauro and Laura inexpugnabilis et firma who iuvenilem eius animum ab omni turpitudine revocaverat. By the time we reach poem No. 318 we learn that "Quel vivo lauro," though now in heaven, had left deep roots in the poet's heart (p. 80).

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implications of the laurel and its tie-in with the name of his beloved that "In alcuni

momenti il poeta si addentrava veramente, estasiato, in una selva di lauro . . ." (pp. 103-104).

Having already shown the indisputable connection between Laura and Petrarch's personal aspiration for the poetic laurel by recalling that in the Eclogue Amor pastorius it is Laura herself who crowns him, Calcaterra in Chapters IV and V of his book discusses Petrarch's poetics as reflected particularly in the coronation ceremony, in Petrarch's oration for the occasion, and in the Eclogue Dedalus. The events leading to the coronation which

occurred on Easter Sunday of 1341, the substance of the oration with its source in a verse of the Aeneid, its stress on the magical qualities of poetry, and its extensive classical borrowings, the depositing of the crown on the altar of St. Peter's, the elaborate

ceremonies that prevailed throughout the coronation with their implications of the close ties between classical and Christian Rome, and the fact that the crown had been

bestowed upon Petrarch for his accomplishments as poet, historian, and teacher tell us a great deal about Petrarch's view of poetry.

Similarly, the Eclogue Dedalus written some five years later affords further insights into this view. In it Petrarch accepts Virgil's account of Dedalus as the originator of the cult of Apollo in Italy, as the builder of the first temple to poetry in Italy, and as the first

consecrator of the Italic progeny to the god of the arts. When Aeneas first landed in Cumae, it was at Delalus' temple to Apollo that he first worshipped and learned of his subsequent fate. Aeneas' vow to raise a similar temple in Rome if he succeeded in

transporting the Trojan gods to Latium was presumably kept by Augustus centuries later when he erected such a temple on the Palatine. Through Dedalus, therefore, the tie between Troy and Rome was achieved. When later in the same Eclogue Petrarch connects the history of Florence and Rome, we see him emerge as the poet of a new Tusco-Roman civilization whose poetic heritage is shrouded in the magic of classical mythology and especially of the Apollo myth.

Having thus analyzed the essential nature of Petrarch's poetics and his basic poetic inspiration, Calcaterra, in Chapter VII, elaborates further on the Christian superstructure that seemed to pervade Petrarch's thinking. The theme of the Chapter is Petrarch's

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bio-graphical and artistic textures of the works. In a thorough and scientific way, Calcaterra shows how for Petrarch the date of April 6 (feria sexta aprilis) represented the true day of Christ's Passion without regard to the moveable recurrence of Good Friday. This explains the puzzling problem of how Petrarch was able to set his first meeting with Laura as well as her death on the day of Christ's death despite the fact that neither in 1327 nor in 1348 did Good Friday fall on April 6. In fact, April 6 was also traditionally considered the day on which man was created and Adam sinned. This finds its importance in the fact that

Petrarch accepted fully St. Augustine's view that "omnis homo Adam et omnis homo Christus." By connecting his drama with Laura to all these divine events, Petrarch was consciously implying a connection with the Christian drama of the redemption (pp. 210-226).

The extent to which these connections permeated Petrarch's thinking can be seen in his attempts to link them with other important events in his life. Not only did he presumably start the Africa on April 6, but he actually arranged for his coronation to take place within the same period. Following his qualifying examination administered by King Robert, he set out for Rome on April 4 of 1341, arrived in the Holy City on April 6 and was crowned on Easter Sunday. Within this context, even the poet's depositing of his crown on the altar of St. Peter assumes truly symbolic proportions. Thus, there is also a conscious connection between the Africa and the theme of the redemption of mankind.

Calcaterra sees still further ramifications in the death and burial of Laura taking place on April 6 of 1348. Since in that year Easter Sunday happened to fall on April 6 the poet was clearly implying both Laura's enjoyment of divine grace and her resurrection in Christ. This is why the poet could view that date as marking his liberation from all earthly passion and his preparation for a resurrection in Christ.

In trying to summarize how Petrarch had organized his personal life around the date of April 6, Calcaterra points out that love had first smitten the poet on that day as he

observed the rites of Holy Week, whence the poet's assertion that it was born at a time of "comune dolor." Eleven years later, in 1338, while again meditating during his

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21 which Petrarch saw surrounding all these events found symbolic overtones in the meaning of the digits 7 and 3 in medieval numerology. In short, as is the case with the Divine Comedy, the poet naturally expected his readers to feel the additional dimensions of meaning provided by this superstructure both in the Africa and in the two parts of the Canzoniere. For Calcaterra the full force of these various dimensions can even be felt in such individual verses as "Era de l'anno e di mia etate aprile" (pp. 227-237).

Calcaterra synthesized his views in a later study which appeared in 1949. 7_Having pointed out Petrarch's awareness of the originality of his poetry, Calcaterra asserts that the theme of Parnasia laurus was, in the poet's mind, at the heart of such an awareness. Unlike the poets of Provence for whom love was a "vassallaggio alla dama"; or Guinicelli for whom it was "gentilezza o nobilità di cuore"; or Cavalcanti for whom love was

essentially "senso e passione"; or even Dante who considered it "nobilità e sublimazione alla salvezza"; Petrarch, conscious of being a victim of a forbidden love, transfigures his love into pure poetry. In short, Laura's refusal made his love a Parnassus and a Calvary and thus the very poetry of life.

Calcaterra disagrees with the position of contemporary critics who see in the Daphnean and Christian configurations an external framework that hampers the true poetry of the Canzoniere. In his opinion, for Petrarch "anche quelle figurazioni, che noi giudichiamo sovrastrutture, erano parte viva del mondo lirico, perché egli con l'immaginazione le

vedeva non in margine al suo tormento, ma immedesimate con esso, quasi fossero verità poetiche innegabili, cioè da lui inscindibili." In fact, Petrarch developed a new kind of contemplation of the beloved in which she becomes one with the poet. This is why

Petrarch's internal conflict seems to increase in intensity "quanto più la donna si allontana e si isola." What is more, the new form of contemplation actually underwent an evolution in the mind and art of Petrarch. "Lo stesso mito dafneo, del tutto pagano, su cui egli

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Calcaterra sees in Petrarch's choice of poem No. 23 as the first canzone of the Canzoniere an indication of the poet's high regard for allegory as a poetic device. For Petrarch as for the great artists of his day, allegory was "una sintesi fantastica di modi d'essere dello spirito, che prendevano linea, colore, volto in forme concrete, le quali essi vedevano e quasi toccavano." Petrarch's use of allegory in Nos. 23 and 135 as well as in his Triumphs shows his originality in having "plasmate l'allegoria in raffigurazioni concrete dei propri stati d'animo, l'averla cioè soggettivata, non solo vedendo rinnovarsi nella propria vita lo spirito umanissimo e perenne dei miti antichi, ma facendone dirette e trasmutevoli

imagini dei propri modi d'essere." Whence the poet's outcry: "Qual più diversa e nova/ cosa fu mai. . . . più mi rassembra: a tal son giunto, Amore."

In this study Calcaterra also elaborates on the peculiar qualities of Petrarch's humanism resulting from his Augustinian perspective toward antiquity. Petrarch's view of history is anthropocentric without denying the divine. "Riguarda l'humanitas quale ha vissuto, combattuto e dolorato prima dell'avvento di Cristo e quale vive, combatte e dolora dopo la venuta del redentore." For him also Christ's birth lies at the center of history, but he holds that humankind continues to possess those qualities of Adam that required

redemption. Thus, the deeds of the ancients, the lives of illustrious men, the works of historians, of philosophers and of poets, and even myths, anecdotes, and sentences

retain a moral and poetic value as a mirror of humanity which has remained just as blind since the advent of Christ whose booming voice continues tirelessly to point the way of salvation. This is the nucleus of Petrarch's religious thought, and explains why he

considered the ancient stories such as the myth of Parnasia laurus on which he "grafts" the myth of the dì sesto d'aprile, as images of our grieving and wayfaring humanity. So firmly were these convictions rooted in Petrarch's mind that he was able to view poetry as a legitimate means of justifying and purifying before God his inextinguishable love for a woman whom he was forbidden to desire by divine law. "In questa esplicita

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iv. Contini

In his famous Saggio d'un commento alle correzioni del Petrarca volgare 8_Gianfranco Contini uses a particularly happy phrase to define the manner in which Petrarch's poetic imagination viewed nature. In his analysis of poem No. 188 of the Canzoniere he

formalistically summarizes Calcaterra's position regarding Petrarch's attitude toward

classical mythology and toward the history of mankind. Having granted that there is some justification for viewing the poem as an example of a baroque Petrarch, especially in the opening quatrains, he proceeds to show how suddenly the reader is confronted with an unexpected development. ". . . il lauro lievemente ombrato sull'inizio viene a occupare il primo piano, la fronde sostituisce la luce, la sua vita si fa vegetale. . . . I richiamo della donna al lauro, di questo all'Apollo-sole lega le sostanze, fonda un sistema di universale compenetrazione della natura." Similarly in No. 34 the poet, in inviting Apollo-sun to

contemplate his beloved Laura-laurel with him, changes the original "rami" to "braccia" in his reference to Laura's pose, and we have another example of "quell'amorosa

compenetrazione" (pp. 22-23). The extent of such interpenetration may be seen in the amazing fact that the poet often sees himself assuming the same forms assumed by Laura, such as the phoenix in No. 135 or the laurel in No. 23. That the poet is aware of this phenomenon may be seen in the "Triumph of Love,'' capitolo III, verse 162 when he confesses "e so in qual guisa/ L'amante ne l'amato si transforme." In such wise do we see "l'interpenetrazione . . .serrare l'universo petrarchesco" (p. 46). It might be well to recall at this point that the fusion of Laura and Scipio that I documented in the central chapter of my book, Petrarch, Scipio and the 'Africa' provides still another example of the

multiform aspects of such interpenetration.

v. Bosco

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The premise of the book takes the position that there is no true evolution of Petrarch's thought or works, for practically all of his works resulted from life-long revisions that

ceased only with the poet's death. As a result every page of the poet that has come down to us reflects "tutto il Petrarca: immobile, nella sua perplessità, dal principio alla fine." The purpose of the book, therefore, is to try to untie the knot which holds together Petrarch's thought and poetry. By means of a thorough analysis of all the works of

Petrarch which Bosco considers a single block, the book seeks to identify "l'individuazione del centro spirituale del Petrarca allo scopo, primo e ultimo, di capirne quanto meglio possibile la poesia" (pp. 7-11).

The book opens with a brief glance at Laura's role in Petrarch's works. After tracing the various approaches followed by commentators and critics down through the centuries in trying to define the role, Bosco concludes that while it is true that in Petrarch's life his love of Laura is but a single episode, it is "un episodio che il poeta lirico vuole

rappresentarci come centrale e determinante; un episodio trasformato in 'mito' poetico." Whether Laura is historically real or not is basically unimportant. It is, however, important to define "l'essenza della più vasta speranza e disperazione, che al poeta piacque cantare sotto la specie della sua speranza e disperazione d'amore" (pp. 15-23).

Bosco opens the following section, entitled "Amore e contemplazione," by minimizing the resemblance of Laura to Dante's Beatrice. Thus, in a poem such as No. 119 in which the figure of Glory recalls Laura, we do not have Laura becoming a symbol or an allegory. It is rather the symbol or allegory that assumes Laura's characteristics. What we really have in this poem, therefore, is an example of how the poet's love for Laura serves as a means for making the poet's complex sentiments appear lyrically concrete.

The same holds true of the manner in which Petrarch generally depicts Laura. There is a marked absence of realistic details, causing her physical form to be highly evanescent and reminiscent of the ladies of preceding poetic schoolsProvençal, Sicilian and Stil Nuovo. On the other hand, there is an attempt to inject a kind of realism into the total picture. By making recurrent references to specific dates that recall meetings,

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. . . i' vi discovrirò de' miei martiri Qua' sono stati gli anni e i giorni e l'ore. (XII, 10-11)

In short, unlike the case in Dante's Vita nuova, we have in Petrarch's Canzoniere an attempt to portray a lady and a love which, though exceptional, remain strictly human. ". . . l'amore per Beatrice è direttamente ispirato da Dio; quello per Laura non ha altra radice che nel difettivo cuore di un uomo; e Dio rappresenta, nel romanzo psicologico . . . l'altro termine del contrasto." Through his awareness of loving an ideal image of the real, the poet experiences a "contemplative joy" that enables him to avoid an excess of

realism or sensuality. It is for these reasons that "Il tema della sua poesia va oltre l'apparente materia di essa . . ." (pp. 27-41).

In the last three sections of Part I of his book, Bosco discusses some of the more

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Aware that only heaven can assure stability of human effects, and incapable of accepting the end of earthly desires, feeling and joys, the poet has his glance constantly travelling from the earthly to the heavenly and the eternal (pp. 56-62).

This strong sense of the passing of all things human achieves lofty poetry through other supporting motifs as well. The weariness resulting from such contemplation leads to a desire for peace that in turn leads to both the desire and fear of death. Petrarch fears death because of a conviction that the state of men after death is really the same as before. ". . . chi si è qui affannato, si affannerà anche dopo morto." While death does afford a "riposato porto," it is a port "che conserva il salso odore del mare della vita, delle tempeste passate.'' Consequently, he wishes that God will grant him, instead of death, an eternal consolidation of his earthly affections by sublimating them. Just as Laura's

severity in life symbolizes the vanity of all hope, so does her heartfelt concern and finally her love in death symbolize the dream of "finalmente raggiunta quiete spirituale." And if, for Petrarch, happiness is contemplation, it follows that supreme celestial happiness be conceived as an eternal contemplation of the "bel velo" which adorned Laura while alivea "velo" that will finally remain beautiful forever. "Contemplazione senza il più sottile

tormento del senso della caducità: dunque felicità piena." This same desire for stability is reflected in a most unusual way even in the final poem to the Virgin. By recalling Laura in his description of the Virgin, the poet implies how celestial love is but the sublimation of the earthly (pp. 68-73).

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vi. Noferi

In 1962 Adelia Noferi published a book entitled L'esperienza poetica del Petrarca 10 consisting of a series of studies that she had completed and published separately over a number of years. Miss Noferi also starts with the assumption that to grasp the depths of Petrarch's poetry one must constantly keep all of his works in mind and that there is very little evolution in his love poetry, representing as it does, a series of new starts to

achieve perfection of expression. In fact each poem is a kind of nucleus around which there develops "tutto un sistema di rimandi, raccordi, allusioni," thereby making the poems "dei centri vivi di energia" (pp. 1-6).

Miss Noferi does, however, see a kind of evolution in the figure of Laura as Petrarch's inspiration. Starting with the poet's well known cry in Fam. II, 9, "Simulatio esset utinam, et non furor," she proceeds to show how Laura evolves from a representative and

evocative figure, to one possessing clearly Platonic overtones, to one reflecting first the nature of an "apology" and then the nature of a legend. By then appearing to be both remote and close the essentially distant mirage takes on the qualities of a ''myth."

Petrarch's poetry achieves its greatest purity when he makes "coincidere tutti i suoi temi più vivi nel favoloso nome di Laura, e riscattarli in quella innocenza, al punto di una confluenza perfetta. . . .Non dunque un diario amoroso, e, accanto, gli spunti politici, religiosi, morali, filosofici, ma tutti quanti questi elementi consumati fino all'estrema essenza, . . . nella favola di quell'amore" (pp. 7-9).

For Miss Noferi the sense of timelessness that one feels in reading the Canzoniere results from Petrarch's peculiar perspective. His very life remained throughout in a state of

suspension between memory and hope, past and future. In fact there is no present in Petrarch's poetry. "Il tempo è quello che elude perpetuamente, ma tra la memoria e la speranza l'arte riuscirà a creare, a forza di superamenti, una illusione di eternità." The Laura-laurel metaphor also contributes to this impression. Through its suggestion of the Daphne myth, it creates an atmosphere of fable and legend by establishing a fable-like contemporaneity between the distant experiences. In addition, as a result of the

continuous variations and development given to the theme by the poet, it becomes the "centro allusivo di tutte quante le possibili accezioni: favola (ed i rapporti col Sole

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sta-bilità, anche, di poesia, un miraggio di gloria, altra illusione di eternità." If for the poet ultimate salvation and happiness consists in overcoming time and in the pursuit of an unachievable perfection, the Rime represent a poetic rather than ethical resolution of the problem by implying that "il lontano miraggio potrà essere identificato ugualmente nella compiuta forma di Laura, come nella compiuta perfezione divina." The factor that

provides most of the dynamic movement of the poetry, however, is the poet's use of "memory": "una capacità davvero di fermare il tempo intorno a certi punti vivi, riscattarli, in una diversa esistenza, ormai assoluti e sicuri'' (pp. 28-65).

In Miss Noferi's opinion the Rime cannot be viewed either as a diary or as lacking

continuity. Petrarch's use of fragmenta in the title was partially an indication of modesty, but most importantly indicated "il lieve margine di casualità" that apparently separated one composition from another as if fragments of a protracted discourse that lasted

throughout the poet's life. The essential unity of the whole emerges from this pursuit of the poet's extended, perpetual discourse which he felt could never be fully terminated (pp. 113-114). Being primarily an internal discourse, a "parlare a se stesso" (p. 61), it could not proceed in extensive steps, but rather by means of small variations or

recommencements, to borrow an expression from Valery. Indeed, "tutta la vita e tutta l'opera di Petrarca si snodò lungo questi ripensamenti e queste riespressioni di un oggetto identico eppur imprendibile, perpetuamente diverso perché intensamente vivo: la 'favola' di se stesso, l'avventura terrena della propria anima" (p. 115). Unlike the experience of St. Augustine who strongly felt the presence of God in the recesses of the human mind, "la presenza soltanto di sè stesso, sarà invece il dramma petrarchesco, ed il senso ultimo della sua poesia" (p. 147). Poetry for Petrarch sought the same truth as philosophy,

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remain separate becomes, in Petrarch's poetry, myth and emblem that penetrate

thoroughly the lyrical substance and abolish the two levels "in una assunzione di tutta la realtà in un clima assoluto" (P. 177).

Notwithstanding Petrarch's adherence to the Platonic-Augustinian concept of self-knowledge via gradual steps and insights, he felt most strongly the huge distances

between the search and the goal, as well as the contrast between the rational on the one hand and the restlessness and irrationality of the soul on the other. As a result, his

"donna angelo" becomes but a metaphor of the infinite disstance that separates him from his love, and the consequent movement "non scatta, secondo una traiettoria contrifuga, verso l'assoluto, ma si ripiega, centripeto, affondando nell'animo del poeta, scavando in esso l'abisso del 'desio' inappagabile." Laura does not "signify" a metaphysical reality but summarizes the goals of an earthly aspiration to perfection within the limits of human nature. But because such perfection is necessarily bound to the physical and is subject to and enclosed within the limits of time, it must inevitably remain unachievable and hence a perpetual source of restlessness and grief. What remains above and beyond a hoped-for perfectibility of the soul through love, is a reality that is "non catartica, angelicante, ma conturbante e disperante." Whereas Dante's love was able to resolve itself in redemptive knowledge, in Petrarch "l'amore non raggiunge questa sfera intellettiva e metafisica, e 1' 'unimento spirituale' cui tende è di continuo minacciato e distrutto dalla volontà di

attuarlo non al di fuori e al di sopra della realtà umana, temporale, ma entro di essa, in un superamento che non fosse negazione.'' This is why, in the Secretum, St. Augustine constantly associates the poet's love of Laura with "amor rerum temporalium" (pp. 262-264).

Before leaving Miss Noferi's book, it might be well to cite in its entirety a passage in which she summarizes the basic stages through which Petrarch's creative imagination passes. In it may be seen the author's conception of how Laura provides an exceedingly complex poetic image:

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compenetra di amaro per la stessa inafferrabilità delle cose, per il divario che si apre tra il desiderio di possederle perpetue e la consapevolezza di non giungere mai a possederle (p. 274).

vii. Ramat

In 1969 Walter Binni collected in one volume a series of essays on the Renaissance by Raffaello Ramat that had appeared in a variety of publications. The first of these is on Laura, and first appeared in the late 1950's. 11_{In it Ramat develops the thesis that Laura} was essentially the central reflection of Petrarch's endless idealization of himself. As

perhaps the most sensitive man of letters of his time, Petrarch felt very keenly the deep crises that were plaguing European society economically, spiritually, politically, and culturally in the waning years of the Middle Ages. The new, pragmatic approaches to reality were seriously threatening traditional institutions and values based on

transcendental ideals. The nominalist attempt at compromise with the doctrine of the double truths, the religious and the rational, had some positive effect, but not on writers such as Petrarch who to the end of his life considered the ascetic ideal, as modified by Roman culture, the loftiest that man can aspire to. He thus gives the Christian essence of the ideal a classical meaning, and develops the concept of the ascetic humanist as an individualistic hero who, offended by the trends of the contemporary social order, stands apart, proclaiming his new and aristocratically solitary humanistic liberty.

At the very moment, then, that historical conditions alienate Petrarch from society, he views as his prime duty the utmost development of all his capabilities in order to become a perfect exemplar of human potential. The ultimate goal of such an undertaking was a wisdom that would harmoniously dominate human passions in this life, and assure

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Yet, the apparent contradiction of what Ramat calls "voler essere maestro di vita fuori della vita" did not alienate him from his contemporaries. These applauded and

worshipped him, though hardly ever practicing what he preached. What they saw above all in his works was the hope of a new dawn that would mark the coming of "a new harmonious man." This new introspective use of history, culture, and literature as the means of achieving a new individualistic and heroic ideal represents Petrarch's reaction to the cultural crisis of the period. His various Latin works design the ideal of the

stoic-Christian sage, the man of letters in whose Platonism Cicero and St. Augustine find a common bond. In the process the sage becomes a literary character who functions primarily on the level of rationality and of conscience. In the Italian lyrics on the other hand this transformation occurs on the more private level of the emotions where complex feelings constantly defend themselves against the incursions of reason.

Thus does Petrarch create the myth of a self which is aristocratically infirm, and at its center he places his love for Laura, indeed the invention of Laura. The most elite forms of Christian love lyric contribute to the formation of this myth, from the Provençal to the stilnovistic variety, supplemented by the poet's rich biblical, patristic and classical culture. The creation of Laura is therefore also intended to contribute to the ultimate goal of

Petrarch's works: the idealization of the self. Without sacrificing the psychological reality of the love affair, the poet succeeds in endowing it with a much vaster and more complex meaning by having it revolve around Laura as a unifying image. As a result, the

experience moves from an episodic type of vision to total vision in which the entire moto vitale of the protagonist is reflected on an idealized plane. As the unifying factor in this process Laura acquires an increasingly complex significance. All that Petrarch had

dreamed, enjoyed and suffered at the hands of love becomes in the single image of

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values, the very condition for the unfolding of all vital reality; and yet, she is also the reason why no problem can be resolved, no value can be defined, and no moment of reality can acquire absolute meaning.

Laura, then, is what Petrarch loves but would prefer not to love, what he would like to hate but cannot stop loving despite himself and his tears. Just as the Christian vision of the earthly and heavenly life represented for Petrarch the rational, in the same manner does his love represent the irrational. But defining it was insufficient to overcome it for it possessed a power superior to both reason and will; and indeed the more clearly one understood the power of reason, the more one realized its insufficiency in overcoming the irrational. Such is the condition of a soul that has sought peace in love and has instead found conflict, has sought its passion for harmony in a beloved and has instead found greater disharmony.

At the heart of this new poetic world of Petrarch was the fundamental theme of the dolce stil nuovo: the painful relationship between the finiteness of man and the infinity of God, and the hope, symbolized by the beloved, of rising from one to the other, from the misery of what is changeable and transitory to the joy of what is eternally immutable. Since, however, the individualistic is finite, one can attain the infinite and universal only by denying one's own individuality. True liberty consists in the annihilation of the self. Petrarch's age saw the dissolution of the unity between human and divine and the affirmation of individual autonomy. This resulted in a new concept of liberty no longer dependent on the forsaking of autonomy in order to achieve the infinite and eternal. Instead, beside the old idea of an infinite conceived as absolute and static peace, there arose the sense of an infinite that was not outside the individual and that did not deny its dynamism. This infinity of man was not the same as that conceived by theology which denied the infinitely vital value of his earthly drama, but rather a quality from which derived the infinite human capacity to live, to understand and to feel its own drama. It was a dynamic infinity that did not entail the peace of absolute definitions, but rather the perennial anxiety and elation resulting from the constant confrontations with life.

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Laura, the absolute that draws the relative to it without annihilating it. Laura's essential power in this drama lies in her beauty, "la forma alla quale il tumulto dell'infinito

dinamico aspira per placarsi armoniosamente (p. 22)." Such beauty overcomes time, sorrow, contrast, and relativity; it is contemplated as a universal value, but not static since it is the force that perennially reopens the individual drama on which it depends. It is an ideal but concrete beauty, existing within and not beyond life.

For Ramat, then, Petrarch discovers feminine beauty as a moment of perfection which he celebrates in ways beyond time and space so that in it may be seen reflected the

immutable beauty of the universe. Laura's beauty receives and condenses within life the immortal beauty of the cosmos; but not passively, for in its descent into the finite, the infinite is overtaken by the heated movement of life and loses its static quality. Laura and nature fuse, and Laura becomes the vital essence of things, their active, dramatic beauty, the very form and rhythm of the universe as well as of man's individual life. This

movement eventually evolves into a religion of beauty capable of overcoming even death by endowing it with its own qualities. The second part of the Canzoniere is but a

celebration of this victory and Petrarch's most original invention since he succeeds in introducing in the realm of the most absolute immutability provided by Laura's death the harmony of the dynamic, thereby effecting the reconciliation of opposites. The Christian concept that death frees the soul for a life of eternity serves as prelude to the idea that by freeing beauty from all agitation death opened the way for the full glorification of Laura, alive even after death.

The absolute does not overcome the relative, but exalts it; and earthliness in its relation to God is not destroyed but is glorified. Laura thus becomes the Alpha and Omega of the recurring movement that proceeds, not from the finite to the infinite, not from the

relative to the absolute; but from the finite, from the relative, from agitation, to harmony, and to poetry. If the spirit of the Renaissance consists in the assertion that the mortal is worthy of soaring to the immortal inasmuch as human power is capable of reflecting in its own creativity a divine power, and that the dignity of man may be seen in his comparing himself to God who created the cosmos out of chaos and gave harmonious form to

disharmony, then it is here that Petrarch's great modernity resides.

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Contini's "universal interpenetration of nature," to Bosco's "larger hope and despair," and Noferi's "perfect confluence," to Ramat's ''vital flux or energy," Laura's image in Petrarch's poetry certainly assumes complex proportions. But for all of these critics, Laura's image emerges from the final form of the Canzoniere as we know it todaya form that required the better part of Petrarch's lifetime to assume its present physiognomy; a form

furthermore, that contains not only 366 poems (implying the poet's constant involvement throughout the longest calendar year) but one which opens with a recantation, proceeds to a roughly chronological history of the poet's overwhelming passion within the

framework of other distracting tensions, is neatly divided into the life and death of the hauntingly beautiful beloved, and ends with a hymn to the Virgin Mary.

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2 Laura and the Rime

Petrarch labored hard and long in giving final form to his Canzoniere. The full story of the process has been remarkably told by Ernest H. Wilkins. 1_{For purposes of the present} study, it will be necessary first to repeat succinctly the conclusions reached by Wilkins on the chronology of the process whereby the collection reached its final form, and then to examine the qualities or nature of the contents of each of the stages to see whether there is any distinct evolution in the image of Laura. It is essential to keep in mind that we are here speaking of the order which Petrarch finally gave his individual poems and not of their moment of composition.2

i. The First Form of the Collection

It was not until 1342 that Petrarch began thinking in terms of making a selective and ordered collection of his Italian lyrics which he had begun writing at least as early as 1327.3_{Between 1342 and no later than 1347 he selected from the worksheets on which} he had composed his poems a number of lyrics that had been written between 1326 and 1341. Of these, the only ones assignable with any degree of certainty are fourteen poems that finally bore the numbers 34-36, 41-46, 49, 58, 60, 64, 69. Which and how many

other poems written before 1342 were included in this first form is difficult to determine, but all evidence points to the strong possibility that No. 34 was the opening poem.4

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Accepting Wilkins' arguments on the identification of these fourteen poems as part of the first form of the Canzoniere and on the appropriateness of No. 34 as the opening poem, we can draw general and tentative conclusions about the contents of this first form with respect to the image of Laura. If there is any dominant theme it is that of Apollo and Daphne and the identification of the name of Laura with the laurel. In fact No. 34, which presumably was intended to set the tone, opens with the name of Apollo and is an

invocation to the classical god of light pleading that he clear the atmosphere of the

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In general, then, one can say that in the very first form of the Canzoniere Laura's image is projected against a complex background of classical mythology and history reflecting a wide spectrum of meaning symbolized primarily in the drama of Apollo and Daphne. In other words, there is little question that when Petrarch first began to select poems with which to initiate an ordered collection, his concept of Laura was impregnated with

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dis-tinctly classical direction present in practically all of Petrarch's works prior to 1342. It would seem to follow, therefore, that the following poems, known to have been written before or in 1342, might conceivably also have been included in the first form (numbers in parentheses indicate questionable ones): 6, 9, (13), 22, 23, 24, 29-31, 39, 47, 48, 51, 52, 67, 102-104, 107, 115, (119), 196.

ii. The Second Form of the Collection

According to Wilkins, the only fact known with any certainty concerning the contents of this form are that it was begun in or before 1347, that it was divided into two parts, and that No. 1 opened Part I and No. 264 opened Part II. Wilkins also adduces evidence to support the contention that both No. 1 and No. 264 were written in 1347, the year before Laura's death. Finally, he indicates that while almost all of the 263 poems ultimately included in Part I as well as 264-270 of Part II had been composed by 1351 when the second form was probably completed, there is strong reason to believe that "the total number of poems contained in the second form was somewhat less than 150." 6

It is common knowledge that Petrarch underwent a spiritual crisis between 1335 and 1342 resulting from a more intimate acquaintance with the Church fathers, especially St. Augustine. The Secretum, begun in 1342, is usually viewed as the work in which the poet's crisis is resolved. This resolution, however, lies rather in the definition of the principal elements of the crisis than in the discovery of ultimate answers. As Miss Noferi has pointed out, the Secretum is like the silenced echo of the Rime, "una sistemazione in prosa, in letteratura, in polemica morale, dei motivi più vivi ed urgenti, quasi a

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of the works he started or completed between 1342 and 1348. Simultaneously with the start of the Secretum, he not only continued work on his Africa as well as on the De viris, but he started another work which, in a sense, sought to find a compromise solution to the poet's spiritual plight: the Rerum memorandarum libri in which ancient greats were to be shown as rightful occupants of the Temple of Virtue. But as this work evolved, others were begun with clearly religious overtones: the Psalmi penitentiales, the De otio

religioso, and even the De vita solitaria.

Returning now to the second form of the Canzoniere, the fact that the collection was by 1347 divided in two by the poet and that Nos. 1 and 264 respectively opened each of the Parts assumes special significance in the light of the poet's other literary activities during the period 1342-1347. To put it as briefly as possible, one year before Laura's death Petrarch had written two poems intended to set the tone of a collection which now

presented a paradox. The first poem was to introduce the whole collection as a series of vain experiences which the poet now recants. No. 264, on the other hand, was to

introduce a Part II in which the recantation is defined as practically impossible for the poet. The image of Laura has thus assumed an even greater complexity in that the poet feels both its serious dangers and its inescapable fascination and appeal.

iii. The Third Form of the Collection

This form is generally considered the first "official" form of the Canzoniere since it is

known that Petrarch had it prepared for Azzo da Correggio. 9_{As Wilkins has shown, it was} started in 1356, was completed in 1357-1358, contained about 170 poems, and retained the division into two parts. Part I contained about 142 poems and Part II about 29

poems. Furthermore, each part indicates real artistic concern to secure both variety in form and variety in content in the arrangement of the poems.

The single most significant event that had happened in Petrarch's life between the

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of 1348 (which had also caused the deaths of acquaintances and friends dear to the poet). 10_{That the awesome power of the Great Reaper was truly impressed upon the} poet during that terrible year and contributed greatly to his sense of the transitoriness and instability of all things human can hardly be disputed. The fact remains, nonetheless, that just before tragedy struck, the poet had conceived his collection of Italian lyrics as being divided into two parts and had written the two significant poems discussed in the preceding section. Assuming that the death of Laura occurred shortly after the writing of these poems, and knowing that her death served primarily as inspiration for the

continuation of Part II, we can safely conclude that between 1347 and 1356 Petrarch was inspired by a new image of Laura that reinforced the position taken in No. 264 rather than that taken in No. 1. In other words, as was the case with the Secretum, the voice of St. Augustine was once again muffled by the doubts and convictions of the poet-humanist who simply could not accept the idea that all earthly striving was in vain.

It was this moment that Calcaterra refers to as the spiritual transformation of Laura. The poet began to endow her poetic image with the characteristics necessary to convert her into a lady-guide to the Christian heaven. The theme of Parnasia laurus thus became enmeshed with that of the dì sesto d'aprile.11

Accepting Wilkins' argument that Part I of the third form of the collection ended with No. 142, and recalling Petrarch's view of the artistic importance of the opening and closing moments of a literary work,12_{we find in the poem, which significantly happens to be a} sestina,13_{clear evidence of the transformation. Through an extensive analysis of his} lifelong relationship with the laurel, "la pianta più gradita in cielo," and through a

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of Laura, 14_{then the poet's use of it to conclude a form which was begun many years} after the death of Laura (when her new role as lady-guide-to-heaven had already been conceived) shows almost a deliberate attempt to provide a bridge between the two

images as well as a note of finality. As Wilkins has observed, the poem "served admirably to close a Part I which was in the intent of the author to have been followed by a Part II beginning with I' vo pensando."15

Some of the poems known to have been included in the second Part of this form likewise provide evidence to support some of the above conclusions. First, however, we must recall the uncertainties regarding which poems were in Part II of the second form which was certainly introduced by No. 264. If the form was indeed not completed until 1351, there is little doubt that a good many poems appearing immediately after 264 (perhaps as far as No. 272) were involved. There is also little doubt that of the poems added to Part II in the third form, the dozen or so preceding No. 292 were among them. Even a cursory examination of these will indicate a kind of clarifying of the poet's vision as it moves from recollection to actual vision.

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setting. The poet envies Titon his recurring and eternal possession of Aurora whereas he, in an even more dire predicament than Apollo, must die in order to see his sweet laurel which had left him only the sound of a name. Whence the strong note of finality present in No. 292 in which Petrarch decides to end his love song, for his inspiration is gone "et la cetera mia rivolta in pianto."

In the third form of the collection, we see the conversion of Laura's image from the Daphnean myth of earthly beauty, love and art to a lady-guide to the Christian God and the Christian heaven. This vision of her remains blurred, however, and achieves focus only in the fourth or Chigi form of the Canzoniere.

iv. The Fourth Form of the Collection

This form was made in the years 1359-1362 and represents the first extant form of the Canzoniere that has come down to us. 17_{According to Wilkins, the poems added to the} third (or pre-Chigi) form to make this form were, in Part I and in their order of

transcription, Nos. 143-156, 159-165, 169-173, 184-185, 178, 176-177, and 189. The poems added to Part II were Nos. 293-304.18

A brief glance at these additions indicates further evolution in the image of Laura. No. 143 indeed shows the poet viewing his beloved in an entirely new perspective. She is no longer turning away from him but toward him. Not only is her beauty as striking as it ever was, but it was the sweetness of a song of love that prompted the poet to return willingly to a consideration of Laura's qualities. From 144 to 156 we have primarily accounts of Laura's unusual virtues as Petrarch reviews certain experiences since their very first

meeting. No. 146 outlines her principal qualities as "alma gentil d'ardente vertute ornata et calda," "intero albergo d'onestate," "torre fondata et salda in alto valor," and a strong, purifying flame. In No. 151 Laura is depicted as a definite deterrent to evil. The same holds for No. 154 in which she is pictured as a super-human creature that destroys

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The series 159-165 concentrates on the physical beauties of Laura. But No. 163 depicts the poet's love as leading him ever higher so that "'I sentier m'e troppo erto," while No. 165 pictures Laura as having the same effect on him as she seems to have on the grass and other plants which take on new life as she lightly treads on them.

The series 169-173 repeats the ambivalence of the poet's relationship to the beloved as he imagines her reciprocating his love and yet realizes how distant she remains. In No. 173 he confesses, nonetheless, that when his soul contemplates the brilliant beauty of her eyes, it enters into a kind of earthly paradise which it soon learns is also "di dolce et d'amar pieno."

Nos. 176-178 stress Laura's effects on him even while traveling through distant countries or through such dangerous surroundings as the Black Forest. She serves as a kind of guiding light leading him back to familiar lands.

Laura is clothed in a sense of mystery and uncertainty in No. 184 which expresses strong concern over the possibility of her death, and in No. 185 which depicts her as a Phoenix in all its oriental splendor whose "novo habito, et bellezza unica et sola" is presumed to have existed once in Arabia but is now clearly present to the poet's sight.

In No. 189, which closed Part I of this Chigi form, the bubble bursts. The poet can no longer control his passion. He pictures himself as a ship tossed around by a storm, and the sails of the ship as made of "error con ignorantia attorto." As a result of the

disappearance of Laura's guiding light, "morta fra l'onde è la ragion et l'arte,/ tal ch'incomincio a desperar del porto."

The poems added to Part II of this form (Nos. 293-304) open and close with sonnets

expressing regret that the poet had not taken his Italian lyrics more seriously now that he realizes how pleasing and significant they are proving to readers. In fact, had Laura

Aldo S. Bernardo Petrarch, Laura, and the Triumphs 1974

Contents

Preface

Introductory Notes

1

Laura and the Critics

2

Laura and the Rime