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Petrarch

            Francesco Petrarca (1304-1374), or Petrarch was an Italian humanist and poet and is considered to be the first modern poet of the Italian Renaissance. Many historians consider him the "modern man" because of his innovative poems focusing on individuality. His use of the sonnet form of poetry influenced future English poets such as Geoffrey Chaucer and William Shakespeare. Petrarch believed that Italy should continue in the cultural tradition of the Roman Empire and wrote in both classical Latin and Italian. He also believed in the study and importance of the Greek and Roman classics as great works of literature. .
             Petrarch was born on July 20, 1304, in Arezzo. He lived in Tuscany until he was eight, when he and his family moved to Avignon, France. He studied law in Bologna but in 1326 his father died and Petrarch returned to Avignon to take minor orders in the church and would devote much of his life in the service of the church. In 1327, he would meet his life long love Laura de Noves, (a Frenchwoman) who would give him inspiration for his sonnets in his collection written in Italian and entitled Rime in vite di Madonna Laura or Canzoniere (Songbook). Laura never returned his love and his lifelong, constant love for her was intense, personal and pure. This type of feeling was new in European poetry. Sonnets are made up of 14-line verses usually having one of several conventional rhyme schemes and are mostly dedicated to love. Canzoniere was translated into English in1931. .
             Petrarch is a symbol of the Renaissance and a "modern man" because of his interest in writing about individual feelings and suffering. An example of this is his Vita Solitaria (1480), which was translated in 1924 as Solitary Life. He also wrote many letters during his travels that are important historical descriptions of the changing time in which he lived. He had a close friendship with the writer Giovanni Boccaccio and together with Dante; the three of them were responsible for making the Tuscan dialect of Italian the written language of Italy.


Essays Related to Petrarch

1. Petrarch: The Father of The Re

... few, such as his rhetorical letters to Cicero, Plato, and Seneca, were never intended to be, but were simply written as a statement of Petrarch's philosophy in the context of the addressee's. Many of his letters are not philosophical at all, but simply familial and fraternal, an old friend reaching ... before the awful face of God." (Hollway-Calthrop, 291) The ancients knew nothing of God or self-effacement and therefore said otherwise, and Petrarch apparently agreed with them. The Letter to Posterity was clearly written to immortalize him. In the words of Hollway-Calthrop, "It was not ....

  • Word Count: 2254
  • Approx Pages: 9
  • Grade Level: High School

2. Francesco Petrarch

... but he was forced to leave in 1302, and went back to Arezzo. In 1310 his father moved the family to Pisa. Between 1315 and 1319 young Petrarch was trained at a school for legal workers, under the Italian Convenevole da Prato. His father wanted him to be in the legal profession, and sent him ... Italy in 1336. He entered Rome for the first time in January 1337. After his trip through Italy he settled down in Vaucluse, France. Here Petrarch found the peace and the inspiration that produced some of his best poems. Accepting an invitation to go to Rome on Easter Sunday, 1341, he was ... was j...

  • Word Count: 675
  • Approx Pages: 3
  • Grade Level: High School

3. Marie De France And Petrach

... well. While the enraged man is treated as victim by Dante and villain by Marie, disdain for adultery remains as one commonality of two widely different perspectives of romantic love. Petrarch's Quest for True Love and Spiritual Fulfillment The poems contained within The Canzoniere are spellbinding tales of love. The object of this love is Laura, the ideal woman according to ... the author, Francesco Petrarch. Petrarch expresses his desire for true love and spiritual fulfillment through his yearnings for Laura. In Petrarch's opinion, Laura exemplifies perfection. Her every mannerism evok...

  • Word Count: 2427
  • Approx Pages: 10
  • Grade Level: High School

4. Dante

... a story to entertain us, but also a story to show the imperfectness of humans and the impact our imperfections have on our lives. Francis Petrarch was a Renaissance writer and scholar who wrote The Assent of Mount Ventoux in 1336. For his time, his description of Mount Ventoux talks about ... of landscape. This was the beginning of an awareness of space that resulted in a major change of European man's attitude toward the world. Petrarch's letter is in the form of a confession. It is addressed to the Augustinian professor of theology named Francesco Dionigi di Borgo San Sepolcro who .....

  • Word Count: 1592
  • Approx Pages: 6
  • Grade Level: High School

5. Humanism

... , they were not ignoring religion in any way. The Classical humanism began in Italy during the mid 14th century. The late medieval Italian writers Dante, Boccaccio, and Petrarch contributed very much to the finding of classical works. Petrarch began to research earlier writers, for example, Cicero. Petrarch was referring back to the classics, the early humanists, and he was learning from them. After ... the humanists before him, he began to write great sonnets and he was known to be the "father of humanism". Petrarch wrote lyric poetry dealing with individuals; he wanted to share knowled...

  • Word Count: 656
  • Approx Pages: 3
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: High School

6. The Influence of Humanism in Renaissance Art

... and the arts. Humanism, "with its respect for the classical past, was merely a convenient vehicle for the subtle genius " of scholars, authors, and artists of the Renaissance (Kekewich 3). Francesco Petrarch (1304-1374) was labeled as the "founding father" of humanism" during the Italian Renaissance. His achievements in the retrieval of Greek and Roman traditions, including rhetoric, and his attempts to ... Letters to Atticus in 1345 (Humanism: Italy" 1). His letters became a blueprint for humanists of the Renaissance, with letters becoming the favorite form of prose (Humanism: Italy 5). ...

  • Word Count: 2321
  • Approx Pages: 9
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

7. Renaissance, Reformation, Scientific Revolution And Age Of Exploration

... believed greatly in leading a fulfilled life. One of the first humanists during the Renaissance was Francesco Petrarch from Italy. Petrarch studied classical writings of the Romans and Greeks because Petrarch thought the people of the Greek and Roman times could best be explained through studying the writings. Petrarch called this "classical education- because of the use of the classical writings. He also was a poet ... . Petrarch wrote many poems and sonnets to Laura, his imaginary perfect woman. Petrarch brought new ideas of thinking by using the "classical education- to teach others a...

  • Word Count: 816
  • Approx Pages: 3

8. The Dawn of the Italian Renaissance

... just how wide spread the bubonic plague had become. No one was safe. The plague was integrated into everyday life to such an extent, that even Petrarch, noted for his poetry of love and longing for the evasive "Laura", could not help but write in a letter to Guido Sette, a lifelong ... blooming face, the flight of youth, the trickeries of age, the wrinkles, illnesses, sadness, and pain, and the implacable cruelty of indomitable death." Petrarch, the poet who would write endlessly on the beauty of love, was touched by how short life is, and how many hardships there are, one ... of the g...

  • Word Count: 576
  • Approx Pages: 2
  • Grade Level: High School

9. Italian Renaissance in General

... , considering them to be inferior. Despite the possible downfalls that the republic had on Venice, they had much power throughout Europe. "The philosopher-poet Francesco Petrarch (1304-74) called it mundus alter, another world." (Brown, 9) In Florence, which is considered to be the most important center of Renaissance learning ... literary style, but considered to be guides to the understanding of life. The first, and most recognized pioneers of humanism were Petrarch and Giovanni Boccaccio. Petrarch became known for his poetry, which can be described along with many humanistic writings ...

  • Word Count: 1908
  • Approx Pages: 8
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

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