Petrarch (72 page)

97.
with still greater delight:
With a parenthesis of teasing self-mockery, he returns to calling up Lauras image,
this time to her more purely physical beauties.

98–99.
white and slender:
The Provençal poet Arnaud de Mareuil is cited by Zingarelli as a source for these
lines. Cf. also Ovid,
Metamorphoses
I, 498, for a reference to Daphne.

104.
wild and rocky places:
The natural barriers between them, but also, in the figurative sense, his current
life of alienation from her.

109.
and falling reaffirms:
Sense determines here the sound and the length of line, as if wings were feebly rising
and falling from lack of strength. He uses the same device in poem 365.

112.
make my home:
Albergo
(home) is an enigmatic term that implies source, rest, and renewal—a link between
temporal and eternal.

113.
that sweet place:
He directs his song to the place where Laura dwells, made sweet by her presence.

115.
I know:
The words echo Dante,
Inferno
XIII, 25: “I think perhaps he thought I might be thinking,” suggesting double distance
from the truth.

116.
she will offer you her lovely hand:
She does so in her merciful aspect, from which he is so distant.

118.
do not touch it:
Do not show your hand. Cf. 208.12–14.

119.
soon as possible:
“As soon as I am able,” that is, when the strength of his wings is sufficient to
lift his spirit.

120.
as naked soul:
Cf. lines 105–110. He fears he will not live to see her again in the flesh, although
thoughts of reaching her with his words have buoyed his soul.

This sonnet addressed to his friend Orso dell’Anguillara was also written when he
journeyed to Rome in 1337. He is said to have lodged for a time in Capranica, in the
hills outside the city. The sonnet is distinctive because of its repetition of the
words
né
(neither) and
o
(or), and its artful use of Q-words that trace his progress over the obstacles separating
him from her.

2.
where every stream:
The Mediterranean into which so many rivers merge. Cf. 148.1.

3.
nor shadow of a wall:
Wall, hill, and branch, like the maternal sea, are symbols of the workings of time.

6.
hinders human sight:
Separates him from his goal.

7.
more than a veil:
The created form of Laura.

8.
Now weep:
Speak in lamentations.

9.
That downward glance:
Laura’s eyes disdaining him.

10.
smothers:
The syntax is equivocal: either joy smothers or her downward glance smothers, illustrating
the sense of “either-or.”

12.
complain as well of a white hand:
Laura’s hand that threatens or denies him.

14.
like a reef:
A hidden obstacle preventing him from reaching harbor.

The sonnet apologizes (perhaps to Giovanni Colonna) for a late return to Avignon.

1.
that attack:
Memory of her glance.

3.
flees the rod:
Her eyes chastised him. The terms of the sonnet recall the schoolroom—she the teacher,
he the recalcitrant child.

4.
my first leap:
From the heat of her disapproval.
Salto
(leap) implies he had been skipping school.

8.
cold stone:
Mute with shame and humiliation.

9.
return so late:
No longer in a timely fashion, as if he had been absent for an important event (Zingarelli).

14.
were no small pledge:
The encouragement that he receives from this friend subdues his fear of returning
to the eyes he fled.

A tapestry undertaken by the poet-weaver has been interrupted for lack of essential
materials. Written between 1337 and 1341, this sonnet may have been addressed to Gia
como Colonna in Rome, upon whose generosity Petrarch depended. Mixing several metaphors
in an exuberant style, it plays on the idea of doubling.

1.
If Love:
Love and Death in consort appear in a series of recent poems.

2.
this new cloth:
He has begun a new work.

3.
from the thick glue:
The lime that lures the bird and catches it fast is a metaphor for the entanglements
of everyday life.

4.
one truth with the other:
The truths of love coupled with those of death.

5.
so doubled:
A fabric so much stronger for being interwoven.

6.
modern style and ancient tongue:
Combining ancient Latin and vernacular Italian, perhaps, although he might be speaking
of modern vernacular and ancient Italian with its cognates in French. A bit of Roman
dialect appears in the sonnet.

7. (
and I dare say it, fearfully):
Lest he cause his words to detonate.

8.
you’ll hear the bang:
Slumbering Rome, so needy of reawakening, will know an explosion of fame.

11.
cherished father:
Variously identified as St. Augustine, Livy, Cicero, or Seneca. Petrarch was active
in unearthing ancient works that had been known to scholars only in derivative form.

12–14.
why are your hands … :
The brash delivery of this question corresponds to the explosive sound of his verse.
He asks why his patron is no longer so generous.

This and the following two sonnets employ the same rhymes, reversed in order in poem
42 and restored to the order of this sonnet in poem 43. They date from the earliest
period and were included in the first collection of 1342, along with poems 44–48.

1.
when from its proper dwelling place departs:
Laura is absent from Avignon.

3.
Vulcan pants and sweats:
The god of fire whose art was ingenious but utilitarian. He labors here, mobilizing
for battle. Cf. Dante,
Inferno
XIV, 52 ff., and
Virgil, Aeneid
VIII, 414–25.

5–6.
who now thunders … :
Caesar is associated with the month of July, Janus with January.

7.
the earth weeps:
All the people suffer.

7–8.
the sun stays far away:
Apollo (Phoebus) is languishing in exile.

9.
Mars and Saturn:
Malign stars, ascendant in winter and associated with struggle and melancholy.

10.
armed Orion:
A southern constellation associated with winter storms and shipwreck.

11.
shrouds and rudders:
Spiritual (and political) aids to navigating through life. The language is Virgilian.

12.
Aeolus, angry:
Keeper of the winds. Neptune and Juno represent sea and air churned into tempests
by those winds.

13.
how it feels:
The poet strains for comparisons with this allusion, more in the style of Vulcan
than Apollo.

14.
sweet face awaited:
Laura’s return is expected to restore peace and harmony.

As foreseen, Laura returns, and skies and nature are restored to peace and a springlike
loveliness. This sonnet uses the same rhymes but reverses the order of poems 41 and
43.

2.
beauties so unusual:
As if fresh and new when they reappear.

3.
in vain:
Love’s return disarms Vulcan.

4.
very ancient smith of Sicily:
Vulcan was believed to have his forge inside Etna’s volcano.

7.
his sister:
Latona (Leto), known in legend to be Earth.

9.
from the western shore:
Cf. 28.10, and Ovid,
Metamorphoses
I, 60. The west wind, a Zephyr, is optimal for setting sail to the east, perhaps
on the crusade Petrarch envisions in poem 28.

12.
malignant planets:
Mars and Saturn, spoken of in poem 41. The season has turned.

13.
of her loving face:
By her sunlike qualities.

This completes a cycle of three sonnets all using the same rhymes.

1.
Latona’s son:
Apollo, god of poetry and rejected suitor of Daphne.

1–2.
nine / times:
The number of the Muses, and also Dante’s sacred number. Cf.
Vita nuova
II.

2.
lofty balcony:
A prominence above human life but connected with it. Cf. 325.42.

4.
of someone else:
Of another love poet.

6.
where she lived:
Where she might have taken refuge (
albergasse).

7.
gone mad with grief:
He raved and wept in despair of ever seeing her restored to life.

8.
he greatly treasured:
The art of ancient poetry.

9.
fixed off by himself:
In exile. Cf. poem 41.

10.
the face return:
The reappearance of Laura. Cf. poem 42.

12.
changed by his compassion:
Apollo became a different god as a consequence of his love for Daphne, returning
from exile as a prophet, poet, and father of healers.

14.
retained its previous state:
Nothing has changed. The world still awaits the reappearance of this new and strange
star.

He turns to history and Scripture for dubious examples of pity to hold up as a mirror
to his lady’s anger and disdain.

1.
The man in Thessaly:
Julius Caesar. After the war against Pompey (Caesar’s rival and son-in-law), Ptolemy
put Pompey to death treacherously and presented his head to the victorious Caesar.
Caesar was said to have wept, perhaps not with genuine feeling.

4.
recognized by his features:
The man’s noble character being visible in his face. Pompey was much admired by Petrarch.

5.
the shepherd:
David. In 2 Sam. 18:33, David wept for his rebellious son Absalom, who died from
blows delivered treacherously by David’s own men.

7.
and changed expression:
In 2 Sam. 1, King David received news of the death of Saul, whom he succeeded as
king. The biblical passage strongly suggests rivalry between the father and son.

8.
the wild mountain:
David cursed the hills of Gilboa where Saul died, making them arid.

9.
whom pity never can discolor:
He addresses Laura, whose face would never pale with compassion for his suffering.

12.
torn … to death:
His heart torn from his self. Cf. Dante,
Inferno
XXVII, 139–41.

Laura’s mirror has enamored her. The sonnet draws on the legends of Echo and Narcissus
in Ovid’s
Metamorphoses
III, 344–510.

1.
My enemy:
Her mirror has become a rival for his affections.

3.
with beauties not its own:
Cf. Ovid,
Metamorphoses
III, 434: “The vision is only shadow, only reflection, lacking any substance.”

4.
sweet and happy supernaturally:
Given to her by God.

5.
On his advice:
Zingarelli points out the antiquity of the phrase “on the advice of the mirror.”

5–6.
expelled me/from the sweet place:
She has exiled him from his own heart, as Echo was by Narcissus.

7–8.
may not be / worthy:
Only she, being perfection itself, is worthy. Weak echoing is heard at the center
of the poem in the form of an equivocal rhyme (
fora-fora
) expressing doubt.

9.
by strong nails:
By his martyrdom. Nails allude to the crucifixion of Christ. Cf. Dante,
Purgatorio
VIII, 136, where Dante’s exile is predicted by a similar image.

10–11.
no mirror… you pleased yourself:
To find harshness and pride in her reflection should be, in the light of her perfection,
a contradiction in terms.

13.
lead to the same end:
Death. Cf. notes to 23.138, 140.

14.
although no grass is fit:
Such a celestial beauty is fit not for earth but for heaven.

Her eyes absorbed in self-love are murderous mirrors that leave Love speechless.

1.
The gold and pearls:
Laura’s beauties.

2.
that winter should have weakened:
Her disappearance (poem 41) should have caused these beauties to wither.

3.
bitter, poisonous thorns:
Stecchi
(thorns) have a figurative meaning of barrenness and deprivation.

4.
that I feel:
That he experiences whenever he thinks of her, like a self-applied pain.

6.
for seldom does:
The words are Seneca’s, from his
Epistulae
XXX: “Nullum … dolorem esse longum, qui magnus est.”

8.
loving yourself:
Cf. 45.1–4.

10.
he was speechless:
Love had no object, no sweet enemy to overwhelm with words.

11.
your desire was for you:
For her own proud beauty.