Petrarch (76 page)

45.
should I:
He returns to Laura’s eyes, which tell him to acquiesce in blessedness.

48.
by their own fault:
An admission he has not made before.

49.
when I turned:
He returns to harsh reality, to his infirmity and the poor state of his soul.

50.
the sweet season:
Before that first day when he fell.

This canzone is one of three in a series, known as the “canzoni of the eyes,” that
are among the most admired of the collection. Petrarch himself calls them “sisters”
and structures them identically except for the total number of stanzas in each. The
first stanza here serves as a preface to poems 72 and 73.

4.
I hope for understanding:
In Laura’s heart.

6.
that pain of mine:
A deeper, more serious pain beneath the abject surface pain. Cf. Ovid,
Ars amatoria
I, 574: “Saepe tacens vocem verbaque voltus habet.”

9.
by nature lazy:
A faulty human art that attempts to reach the divine.

10–13.
acquires from the subject gracious habit:
Her loveliness, with all its gracious expressive qualities, schools him in an appropriate
style. Dante and Cino da Pistoia also used the conceit.

14.
raised by such wings:
Provided to one who has intelligence of love.

15.
hidden for so long:
Which he has not been able to say for want of readiness.

17.
how much my praise falls short:
When his style is put to the service of such exalted subject matter.

20.
what no thought can hope to equal:
Thought alone cannot explain the power of his experience.

25.
that kind disdain:
Her human superiority.
Gentile
and
umano
are used interchangeably.

26.
my unworthiness offends:
The banked fire of a lover might have the appearance of timidity, a characteristic
that squelches love. Cf. 23.90 ff.

28.
were not to temper flame:
Chill it.

29.
then, happy death!:
Otherwise he would have succumbed to those fires and been consumed.

32.
so strong a fire:
Of her holiness. Cf. line 24.

34–35.
but fear…/… strengthens the heart:
Tempers it so that it withstands her fire, like the forging of metal.

37.
O hills:
As if he turns and looks down from a height, under a burning sun, into a cool, shaded
valley.

41.
fleeing is no help:
Cf. 69.12–14. His fate does not desert him, whether he stays or goes.

43.
a short and quicker way:
He would take the easy way out and cease to martyr himself.

45.
one who does not care:
For then he would die and who would know the difference.

46.
Sorrow, why:
He turns again, as if responding to another voice.

52–53.
colors Love / will often paint:
The pallor of fear is replaced by the flaming of his cheeks.

57–60.
you holy lights …/… what you are like:
Not only does her graciousness instruct his style, but it can be demonstrated that
her holiness and happiness are mirrored in his face. The concept originally came from
Plato’s
Alcibiades
(Carducci).

66.
is separate from the natural face:
The beauty of her eyes has a divine origin, apart from nature’s handiwork.

70–75.
Ah, why … :
The preceding thought brings forth a series of laments.

71.
give me that:
The blessing of her glance.

73.
at the destruction:
Cf. 2.13, where the word
strazio
first appeared.

74.
Why do you strip me:
Cf. 29.4 and 29.12, where similar images appeared.

76.
I must say:
Dico
stands alone. The declarative mode elsewhere means he does not lie. See 23.156 and
note.

77.
with thanks to you:
The one who destroys, strips, and disdains him is yet merciful.

80.
expels from there:
He refers to his
amoroso pensiero,
that unique thought that redeems a painful life.

81.
only one remains:
Only that memory of first seeing her compassionate eyes.

82.
This bit:
The next nine lines gather together the several themes of the canzone.

90.
I return to me:
He sums up these themes by returning to the beginning. A rephrasing might be: “And
so alas it’s fated that I return to me, always, by weeping, fighting against laughter.”

91.
The amorous thought:
“Sweetness unusual and new” has its cognate in a thought he read in her eyes.

93.
draws out:
Cf. lines 74–75. Now she elicits, where before she stripped.

97.
Before your presence:
When he calls her into his mind.

100.
allow them entrance:
Memory protects the sanctuary of deep thought.

101.
the surface parts:
Cf. 2.8: “where every other arrow had been blunted”; see also 23.34: “had not pierced
me beyond the clothes I wore.”

103.
from you first comes the seed:
The amorous thought in her eyes, however fleetingly glimpsed, inseminated him. He
is pregnant with it.

104.
an arid piece of land:
The image reinforces her miraculous qualities. She has become the male principal
and he the female receptor.

105.
praise all goes to you:
Cf. line 45: “It is the fault of one who does not care.” All that is life-giving
comes from his love; all that is deathly from its absence.

106.
make me burn:
In anticipation of fruition.

107.
steals me from myself:
She ravished him.

108.
so be sure that you are not alone:
He intends to provide companions to his song, the sister canzoni which follow.

Following on a canzone that traces a gradual ascent marked by hesitation and digression,
this work seemed to one commentator to flower into poetry “of complete and unmixed
joy” (Zingarelli).

1.
I see, my gracious lady:
Her presence is intimately felt.

2.
when your eyes move:
Turn in his direction.

6.
and I can almost see it:
Her glance, like the dazzling light of a sun, so impressed itself on his heart that
residual light still lingers.

9.
this alone sets me apart:
This gift from her.

12.
can make me feel:
The feeling that preceded thought in the creation of the universe, as shadow preceded
light (Zingarelli).

17.
eternal Mover of the stars:
The God of the Empyrean, the first cause. Cf. Dante,
Paradiso
XXXIII, 145.

20.
the prison I am locked in open:
Let his soul join them now. Cf. Cicero,
Somnium Scipionis
VI, 7: “Hic vivunt, qui ex corporum vinculis tamquam e carcere evolaverunt.”

22.
I return to my accustomed war:
His earthly love.

23.
my day of birth:
20 July 1304.

28.
a pleasure to myself:
Cf. 71.91–105.

29.
high and gracious thought:
His thought ennobled by intimate knowledge of her compassion, the
amoroso pensiero
of 71.91.

39.
sweetly consuming and destroying me:
Pleasure that feeds desire for the immortal, bit by bit using up the mortal.

45.
left there all alone:
In his heart only the inseminating shower of angelic sparks remains, and Love.

47.
lucky lovers:
Whose love was requited.

50.
the lovely black and white:
Her compassionate eyes. Cf. 29.23.

51.
Love takes delight:
Regarding
si trastulla,
Carducci notes the many classical uses of the word to express noble simplicity in
play.

55.
Your veil:
Cf. poems 11 and 52.

56.
as does your hand:
The hand that denies.

60.
from your own changing look:
A subtle pause occurs at the end of this stanza, as if he has offended.

64.
I force myself to be:
He goes against his nature.

66.
noble fire:
A passion to be honest and virtuous, according to the courtly tradition.

71.
could help me:
Attract her merciful eyes.

74.
from fair eyes sweetly trembling:
Early commentators heard an echo of Juvenal,
Satires
VII, 241: “oculosque in fine frementes.” Both Carducci and Zingarelli object, preferring
Horace,
Odes
I, 22–24: “dulce ridentem Lalagen … dulce loquentem.” That Laura might laugh mischievously
is in dispute.

75.
ultimate hope:
That she might love him for his whole self.

76.
Song, just behind you:
The
three canzoni are sisters adorning themselves and each other, suggesting their role
as the three Graces (Brilliance, Flowering, and Joy), or the virtues of Faith, Hope,
and Charity.

77.
same place:
In his imagination.

78.
I rule more paper:
He has more to say.

The first of the sister canzoni began an ascent of the mountain, the second reached
the summit, and this final one finds him descending once again to his war.

10.
my words burn:
As the wish of line 2 forces him to write poetry, so the very words in turn inflame
him.

11–15.
nor does my talent … :
Although at times he fears his lack of genius, it is the words of Love themselves
that undo him by their sound. In this canzone, hearing will be counterpoised with
seeing.

16.
when I began:
Cf. 23.1–4, where he hoped to make his life less bitter by singing (
cantando).

19.
this hope of mine:
Encouraged by a certain success, his hope burst forth in praise of her, but only
for a moment. Cf. 23.50–60, the second metamorphosis.

22.
this lofty venture:
Of praising her eyes.

23.
my loving notes:
This and the sound of the words stress their music.

25.
and dead is Reason now:
Lines 25–30 were extensively reworked by Petrarch in 1353, long after he first composed
them, according to Wilkins.

26.
who held the reins:
Reason once guided unruly desire, but Reason has been deposed by Love, to whom the
poet cedes the lead position now.

27.
let Love show me:
He who is expert at finding the chink in one’s armor.

29.
strike the ears:
Percuote,
a word that wounds. The musical motif is repeated as if the poem were a series of
sounds winging toward her susceptible ear.

my sweet enemy:
Cf. 21.1. He would do her a turn and reach her heart through her ears, as his heart
was reached through his eyes.

30.
pity’s friend:
When she hears his song she will be moved to pity by his laments.

31.
I say:
Although reason is dead, he begins an argument quite rational in tone. He has used
the phrase, “I say,” in all three canzoni.

31.
if in that age:
During ancient times when men burned for knowledge. He refers to philosophers like
Pythagoras and Plato, whose journeys into foreign lands qualified them for admission
into the fraternity.

32.
true honor:
Acquired through deeds and experience of travel.

36.
their loveliest of flowers:
They gathered knowledge or virtue wherever they found it, traveling far and wide.

38.
to fill most perfectly:
Within those eyes repose all the honored things the ancients gathered from the loveliest
flowers.

44.
run desirous toward death:
“Running toward death” is living only in time.

48.
to those two lights:
The constellations Ursa Major and Ursa Minor, shining in the polar region. Cf. Virgil,
Aeneid
V, 852: “clavumque affixus et haerens nusquam amittebat, oculosque sub astra tenebat.”

49.
in the storm of love:
The tempest threatens his poetry by driving it to dangerous limits.

52.
do I steal from them:
His furtive glances are necessary, perhaps, because of her veil.

53.
now here, now there:
Love shows him how to move his searching eyes about, not resting them too long in
any one place—a piquant image reminiscent of Dante.

55.
the little worth:
That he should have them as guiding stars is the cause of all the worth he possesses.

66.
every other beauty falls behind:
Lauras gentle eyes, with their promise of pity and mercy, contain in one place all
the virtue “wished by God and Love and Nature” (1. 37). Other beauties follow in inferior
positions.

69.
moves from their smile:
Cf. Dante,
Vita nuova
XXVI: “Tanto gentile e tanto onesta pare”; see also Dante,
Paradiso
XV, 34.