The Poetry of Petrarch

About this book

Ineffable sweetness bold uncanny sweetness that came to my eyes from her lovely face; from that day on Id willingly have closed them never to gaze again at lesser beauties. --from Sonnet 116 Petrarch was born in Tuscany and grew up in the south of France. He lived his life in the service of the church traveled widely and during his lifetime was a revered model man of letters. Petrarchs greatest gift to posterity was his Rime in vita e morta di Madonna Laura the cycle of poems popularly known as his songbook. By turns full of wit languor and fawning endlessly inventive in a tightly composed yet ornate form they record their speakers unrequited obsession with the woman named Laura. In the centuries after it was designed the "Petrarchan sonnet " as it would be known inspired the greatest love poets of the English language--from the times of Spenser and Shakespeare to our own. David Youngs fresh idiomatic version of Petrarchs poetry is the most readable and approachable that we have. In his skillful hands Petrarch almost sounds like a poet out of our own tradition bringing the wheel of influence full circle.