Petrarch (81 page)

The odd contrasts of the last two sonnets are explained in this addressed to Sennuccio
del Bene, who was residing in Avignon (close to Vaucluse), where all Petrarch’s thoughts
were drawn because of Laura’s presence there. Repetition of the adverbs
qui
(here) and
ora
(now, then) creates a seductive design for the eye as well as the ear.

4.
caught in the aura:
Turned by the breeze while dangling in a snare of love.

5.
here, and there:
Cf. Ovid,
Fasti
II, 771–74 (Zingarelli).

7.
in virtue, then lightheadedness:
Apparently these styles are at odds. Cf. 261.6, where he would join honesty and
leggiadria,
and 297, where they are “rivals.”

8.
docile, and then fierce:
In 126.29 he will unit these two qualities (“torni la fera bella et mansueta”), but
at present they are in contrast to one another.

9.
she sang here:
For the first time he mentions her singing among her several beauties.

here she sat:
Cf. poem 100.

10.
held back her steps:
Cf. 108.2.

12.
pronounced a word:
Cf. 111.9.

13.
In thoughts:
It may be that each of these thoughts represents the topic of a sonnet that Petrarch
was sending to his friend, with this as a cover letter to accompany them.

This and the next sonnet date from Petrarch’s second residence in Vaucluse, between
the spring of 1342 and September 1343; they were addressed to Sennuccio del Bene.
The first casts an idyllic Vaucluse against the “wicked Babylon” (Avignon) of the
second, and both extend the hand of friendship to the older poet.

1.
where there’s only half of me:
Because half of his soul is with Sennuccio, as Horace said of Virgil in
Odes,
I, 3, 8: “et serves animae dimidium meae.”

3.
the tempest:
Threatening political developments.

5.
Here I am safe:
Detached from court life and its hazards.

6.
I do not fear the lightning:
Cf. 111.8. One of the laurel’s attributes is its imperviousness to imperial rage.

9.
the realm of Love:
Where thoughts of Laura reign.

10.
birthplace of that aura:
Cf. 109.9–14. Although some believe this to be Laura’s hometown, it is solitude and
tranquility that produce the circumstances for poetic inspiration.

11.
banishes the thunder:
Cf. poems 108,109, and in.

13.
put out the fear:
He refers to the events of poem 105 the following. Cf. 110. 9. 114 Sonnet

He writes now to a friend whose company in Vaucluse he desires, perhaps to an uncle
of Cardinal Giovanni Colonna, who had been suffering from gout.

1.
From wicked Babylon:
From Avignon, the papal seat, to which Petrarch gives the name applied in early Christian
times to ancient Rome because of its corruption. Cf. Rev. 17:5; and Dante,
Purgatorio
VI, 76–78: “Ah, slavish Italy …/… whorehouse of shame.”

6.
now herbs and flowers:
What he gathers from his reading.

9.
the masses:
Cf. 105.83. He is speaking of people who read him but do not understand him.

for Fortune:
Capricious Fortune goes against him more often than not. Cf. 53.85–87.

11.
much heat:
He has left burning behind in Avignon, where Laura now resides.

13.
peace:
Pacificato,
used only this one time in the
Canzoniere,
refers to Apollo’s healing powers as the god of poetry.

and humble:
In contrast to proud or disdainful.

14.
the other:
His friend in whom he looks for firmness of purpose.

foot more firm:
Of a person steady in virtue, moving on the right path.

This sonnet echoes the style and milieu of poems 34 and 43, where Apollo figures strongly.

1–4.
Between two lovers … :
A group portrait of Apollo, Petrarch, and Laura, enclosed in Love’s circle.

2.
honest and proud:
Laura’s aspect as she descended from heaven in angelic form.

that lord:
Love.

4.
the sun:
Apollo.

5.
closed in by the sphere:
Of Love. Cf. Dante,
Vita nuova
XII, “Ego tanquam centrum circuli, cui simili modo se habent circumferente partes;
tu autem non sic” (I am like the center of the circle, equidistant from all points
on the circumference; you, however, are not).

8.
be hostile:
Unsoftened by love.

11.
such an adversary:
Apollo, competing with him in the field of love.

12–13.
around his face…/… a little cloud:
The face of Apollo, god of light and song but also of mental and moral purity.

14.
at having lost:
Lost some of his light to the poet.

He has left behind the object of his desire and retired to Vaucluse with his loving
thoughts, unsullied by Avignon.

1.
indescribable:
Ineffable, goddesslike.

2.
my eyes drew:
As if he were a bee extracting honey.

3.
the day:
On which she greeted him.

5.
I left what I want most:
Laura when he left Avignon behind.

9.
Into a valley:
Una valle chiusa;
a specific reference to Vaucluse, his refuge and fortress.

11.
thoughtful and late:
having lingered too long in Avignon.

12.
no ladies there:
No models for comparison.

14.
my thoughts draw:
Projecting her form against the landscape, or discovering within the valley, rock,
and fountain an image of her.

Vaucluse is a small valley almost surrounded by a mountain whose rocky face rises
up on the east and whose shoulders descend on each side down around the banks of the
Sorgue river, creating a narrow access to the valley from the west, where Avignon
lies across a plain. The poet imagines a turn of the mountain’s shoulder away from
Avignon and toward the southeast and Rome. Cf. Vellutello’s map of 1544, included
in Wilkins (1951), where the terrain is suggestive of the female form.

3.
turned by natural disgust:
Out of aversion for the papal court in Avignon.

4.
back to Babel:
The Babylonian city where pride and presumption earned God’s revenge against language.
See Gen. 10.

5.
a kinder road:
With the mountain facing southeast, his sighs could be carried on the west wind.

6.
where their hope lives:
In the ideal Laura, whose relocation in Rome would be the realization of his hopes.

7.
scattered:
As it is, he bucks the wind from his position east of Avignon, where the real Laura
is.

7–11.
each one arrives /… to be in those parts:
These lines play on the idea of his rhymes as fragments, seeds he scatters blindly
hoping that they will germinate since he has not heard otherwise.

12.
The pain comes:
From the knowledge (my eyes) that on the last day (dawn) his greatest hope (to see
again the lovely places) will not be realized.

At the completion of this sonnet cycle of twelve, which was preceded so fortuitously
by the pleasure of her greeting in poem 106, he finds himself arriving where he began.

1.
sixteenth year:
Poem 107 marked the fifteenth year with an image of him caught in time.

2–3.
moving forward / toward the last:
Like the sun’s motion toward the horizon, he progresses toward eclipse.

6–7.
that life outlast / cruel fortune:
That conditions might change for the better before he dies.

8.
close the lovely eyes:
That Death might take Laura, who is his only inspiration.

9–11.
I’m here, alas …:
In Vaucluse. The syntax of this tercet is very similar to that of 107.9–11, suggesting
a correspondence.

10.
were elsewhere:
With Laura. He is drawn back to Avignon.

11.
unable to do more:
A new situation in which conflict results in no progression.

12.
from old desires:
Found to be insufficient.

14.
thousand turnings:
Rivolte,
turnings in an opposing direction.

This canzone restores balance to his vision, which was found in poem 118 to be inadequate.
Vellutello and Bembo in the fifteenth century and many others after them named the
personae of the canzone Glory and Virtue, one the shadow of the other, hidden from
the world but both deriving from the same seed. The classical and biblical sense of
glory (Greek
doxa
) has altered over the centuries so that contemporary definition tends toward fame
and reputation. Petrarch makes a distinction between glory as divine virtue manifested
in the world by the Coming of Christ, and glory as virtue acted out by His example,
or evangelized; in the protagonist’s case, it is a reminder of a failed duty.

2.
just as old:
She was present at the creation as the glory of God.

3.
with beauty world-renowned:
Famous now in the form of Laura, obscure at the beginning (cf. 4.12–14.) The word
famosa
defines her material beauty.

4.
at early age:
In his adolescence.
her ranks:
Of love poets.

5.
in my thoughts:
An echo of the priest’s confessional prayer at the altar, “cogitatione, verbo, et
opere.”

6.
one of those rare things:
Laura in the beginning stood out among God’s creations, as it is written in his poems.

7.
a thousand roads:
Through all his wanderings and turnings in history.

8.
proud and lovely:
Leggiadra
at this point suggests the grace of youth but also a state of innocence.

12.
hard work:
His study of poetry, philology, and philosophy.

19.
more certain proof:
Of his constancy but also his capacity for understanding.

20.
shadow, veil, or garment:
Like the veil, a temporal and partial good.

22–23.
believing/ to have seen much:
With the complacency and ignorance of youth.

24.
makes me happy:
The pleasure he gains from his early arguments exceeds his dismay over their follies.

25.
a little more of her:
Now that she has revealed her face and he can better endure the strong light of truth,
with its effect of darkening shadows. Cf. poems 110, 115.

33.
that I embraced her feet:
An act of reverence.

34.
more sweetness:
By demonstrating a surface humility, he earned a measure of her love. Cf. 23.132–136.

35.
removed the veil:
In poem 23, his humility deceived the lady, causing her to lower her guard temporarily.

38.
whatever is befitting:
His level of understanding. Cf. Love in Dante,
Vita nuova
XII: “Do not ask more than is useful to you.’”

42.
cannot wish or unwish:
Cf. Dante,
Purgatorio
XXXIII, 28–30.

43.
so marvelous in tone:
Attuned and enriched by compassion and wisdom. Cf.
Dante,
Purgatorio
XXX, 84.

49.
sparks for me:
Yearn to dedicate themselves to her.

50–51.
my enemy… /soon puts them out:
Love of comfort extinguishes them. 52.
another ruler reigns’.
Pleasure.

60.
your eyes more fortunate:
He is ready to be further enlightened.

62.
raise your eyes:
Cf. Dante,
Purgatorio
XXXI, 68.

63.
that more hidden place:
To the truth within her eyes.

65.
in shame:
Confusion. Cf. Dante,
Purgatorio
XXX, 76–78. 71.
so now I seem less lovely.
She reads his mind.

75.
one seed, one birth:
Cf. Dante,
Purgatorio
XXXI, 79–81: “Then when I turned my unsure eyes once more, / I saw that Beatrice
faced the beast, / who in two natures is one single being.” Petrarch refers to the
Old Testament sense of glory, which is God’s presence in the person of Christ—the
duality of human and divine.

76.
the knot was broken:
Having understood the nature of his confusion, which was to try to distinguish the
invisible lady from the visible, he finds his voice.

80.
and I began:
Starting with that note of doubt, “If.”

81.
blessèd the father:
The words seem facile.

85.
much more than I show:
Cf. Dante,
Purgatorio
XXXI, 37–39.

88–89.
she held/her gaze:
Her long look at him seems quizzical, as if in response to his speech.