Tag: petrarca

The Divine Feminine

The role of women in our society has long been a topic of discussion. Though it is much more common to see examples of liberated women in today’s literature and in all respective forms of media, this wasn’t always the case. Female writers were often excluded from the scene, which meant that their stories were usually told through the lens of men. This is part of the reason why there was such a profuse amount of dependent and submissive female roles in literary work. However, there is always an exception to every rule; three Italian writers, who aside from contributing to the Renaissance, also displayed forward-thinking in their writing. Dante Alighieri, Francesco Petrarca, and Giovanni Boccaccio have all credited women for being their main source of inspiration. They have also presented strong examples of female characters which reinforces the idea that women have a right to occupy spots in literary spaces.

In The Divine Comedy, Alighieri takes us on a journey through the different realms that are commonly referred to as the Christian afterlife: Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso. When Dante the pilgrim wakes up in a dark forest, right beyond the entrance of Inferno, he is visibly frightened and in need of some guidance. That is where Beatrice steps in; his savior in the story, but also his muse in the real world. She watched as Dante strayed further away from his faith, and wanted nothing more than to guide him to the light. She sends Virgil to protect Dante while he makes his way through Hell and witnesses all the atrocities first-hand. At one point, Dante confesses, “Oh full of pity she who has helped me! and you courteous, who have quickly obeyed the true words she offered you! Your words have so filled my heart with desire to come with you, that I have returned to my first purpose” (Inferno, Canto 2). In other words, Dante is attributing his will to Beatrice’s generosity and kindness. Perhaps the most interesting thing about Beatrice’s role in The Divine Comedy, is that Dante characterizes her as a religious figure rather than a normal lover. She has an undisputed divine nature throughout the story and plays such an important role in the pilgrim’s salvation (Beatrice: Inspiration, Divine Love, and the Key to Salvation). Although her moments in the Comedy were few and far between, she strikes me as one of the most notable figures in the entire story and the antithesis of a woman who relies on a man.

Beatrice depicted by Dante Gabriel Rosetti.

In Il Canzoniere, Petrarca professes his love for his muse with hundreds of poems. The vast majority of these poems are written in sonnet form and they detail an array of emotions, from when he first fell in love with Laura to when she passed away. In sonnet 90, for example, he describes her appearance to us in a thoughtful manner and portrays her as a source of light in his life. He says, “She’d let her gold hair flow free in the breeze and whirled it into thousands of sweet knots … The way she walked was not the way of mortals but of angelic forms, and when she spoke more than an earthly voice it was that sang.” Though it was not uncommon for Italian poets to dedicate sonnets for the women they admired, Petrarca’s love for Laura was especially haunting because his passion for her only multiplied after she passed. He expressed his heavy feelings about her death in sonnet 319, where he says that his days seem to just pass him by now that she’s gone. Furthermore, he calls the world “wretched” and “arrogant” for taking Laura away and leaving him in a broken state. It’s evident that Petrarca thinks very highly of Laura, but more than anything, I think this also communicates just how much he values the women in his life. After her death, Petrarca had a tough time getting by because of how lost and abandoned he felt. When her soul moved on to the Heavens, as he said, a piece of him died too. Without her, he felt vulnerable and incomplete.

Petrarch and Laura de Noves, Ashmolean Museum.

Boccaccio’s The Decameron was written at the height of the Bubonic plague. Death and grief overtook all of Europe as sickness spread from one person to another. One of the main reasons he wrote The Decameron was, of course, for entertainment. As you could imagine, humor and joy were very scarce given the circumstances. However, Boccaccio also mentions in the preface of The Decameron, that he’s dedicating this work to women. He writes, “the ladies just mentioned will, perhaps, derive from the delightful things that happen in these tales both pleasure and useful counsel, inasmuch as they will recognize what should be avoided and what should be sought after. This, I believe, can only result in putting an end to their melancholy.” Simply put, he hopes that the women reading his work will take notice of the good and the bad, and possibly apply it to their own lives. Boccaccio also gives women the opportunity to recount the parables in The Decameron, as well as lead them. In a lot of the stories, there’s a common theme of men who try to outsmart their female counterparts, to no avail. With this, he implies that women can in fact be superior in terms of skill, which is something that has long been missing in fictional and historical texts alike (Kulshrestha).

To conclude, imbedded in these three written pieces by revolutionary contemporaries are high commends for the women who make them feel complete. Whether it’s done by depicting them as religious figures, describing how lost they feel without them or dedicating their work to them, these men gave women a leading role in their stories during a time period where women were seen as subordinate to men.

Work Cited

Alighieri, Dante. “The Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri: Inferno” ProQuest eBook Central, 29 Feb. 1996, https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/ccny-ebooks/reader.action?docID=693941

“Beatrice: Inspiration, Divine Love, and the Key to Salvation” Digication EPortfolio, Boston University, 24 Oct. 2010, https://bu.digication.com/wr100B1_challenerjn/Final_Draft2 

Petrarca, Francesco. “Il Canzoniere”

Boccaccio, Giovanni. “The Decameron”

Kulshrestha, Sujay. “Giovanni Boccaccio’s ‘the Decameron’ and the Roles of Men and Women.” Inquiries Journal, 1 Dec. 2010, http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/344/giovanni-boccaccios-the-decameron-and-the-roles-of-men-and-women

The Depiction of Love and Women

Throughout The Divine Comedy by Dante and Il Canzoniere by Petrarca, women and love are portrayed in very similar ways that intrigued me. During this course, I loved reading these particular texts because these authors’ portrayals of love and women were very enlightening and movie-like. They portrayed women as very delicate goddesses, which is my most preferable way to read about women. Growing up, I loved to read fairy tales about princesses falling in love and happily ever after. In these texts by Dante and Petrarca, they brought me back to my younger reading days, and they stuck with me a lot more because of that.

In The Divine Comedy, Dante writes and vividly describes his journey through hell in search to finally reach heaven. In Inferno, the poem about hell, he describes his path through the different circles of hell. He is guided by a Roman poet by the name of Virgil, who was sent to him by his love, Beatrice. Each circle represents a different sin. There was a circle for gluttony, wrath, heretics, and many more. However, before Dante entered the gates of Hell, he was unsure if he should do it or not. It was his love and devotion to see Beatrice that motivated him to take on his journey. Beatrice wanted him to take on this journey, so she along with two other women sent for Virgil. For instance, in Canto 2 of the Inferno, Beatrice states, “O Mantuan Shade, in courtesy complete, whose fame survives on earth, nor less shall grow through all the ages, while the world hath seat; a friend of mine, with fortune for his foe, has met with hindrance on his desert way, and, terror-smitten, can no further go, but turns; and that he is too far astray, and that I rose too late for help, I dread, from what in heaven concerning him they say. Go, with thy speech persuasive him bestead, and with all needful help his guardian prove, That touching him I may be comforted. Know, it is Beatrice seeks thee thus to move. Thence come I where I to return am fain: my coming and my plea are ruled by love. When I shall stand before my Lord again, often to him I will renew thy praise.” This pledge from Beatrice shows how much she truly loves Dante and wants him to get guidance while he goes through hell. She said that she is coming to him out of love for Dante, which was very pure hearted. Dante then states, “When of these words she spoken had the last, she turned aside bright eyes which tears did fill, and I by this was urged to greater haste. And so it was I joined thee by her will. As flowers, by chills nocturnal made to pine and shut themselves, when touched by morning bright upon their stems arise, full-blown and fine; so of my faltering courage changed the plight, and such good cheer ran through my heart, it spurred me to declare, like free-born generous wight: alert in service, hearkening her true word! Thou with thine eloquence my heart has won to keen desire to go, and the intent which first I held I now no longer shun. Therefore proceed; thou art my guide, Lord, Master; thou alone!’ Thus I; and with him, as he forward went, the steep and rugged road I entered on.” Dante’s response was very heartwarming and sweet to read because he knew that it was destined for him to go on this trip because Beatrice wanted him to and because he knew that he had the chance to see her in the end. His love for her as well and Virgil and God made him determined to start and continue his journey. In addition, in Canto 5, Dante enters the Second Circle of Hell, which is for the sin of lust. Dante met a woman named Francesca da Rimini who he felt very sorry for because she gave into lust and desire. He mentioned how him and Beatrice’s love is chaste, which was virtuous and eventually led him closer to God. This was very significant to me because it proved how serious and deep Dante and Beatrice’s connection was, and it contrasted from the sinful love that Francesca gave into.

In continuation, Il Canzionere by Petrarca also had a very evocative depiction of love and women. In this story, the main theme is the many love poems/letters that Petrarca wrote for his love, Laura. In my opinion, his love for Laura was the strongest out of all the texts we have read. He had a very profound passion for Laura and it was very obvious while reading the poems. I was very intrigued and drawn into the poems about Laura because it radiates divine feminine energy. For example, in poem 90 of Il Canzoniere, Petrarca states, “She’d let her gold hair flow free in the breeze that whirled it into thousands of sweet knots, and lovely light would burn beyond all measure in those fair eyes whose light is dinner now. Her face would turn the color pity wears, a pity true or false I do not know, and I with all love’s tinder in my breast; it’s no surprise I quickly caught on fire. The way she walked was not the way of mortals but of angelic forms, and when she spoke more than an earthly voice it was that sang: a godly spirit and a living sun was what I saw, and if she is not now, my wound still bleeds though the bow’s unbent.” This poem is very crucial to the theme of love and it is a very vivid description of the way that Petrarca feels about Laura. When he talks about her eyes and her angelic forms, it makes women seem so delicate and fragile which I really enjoyed reading from a male perspective. During this course, I came to realize that from my experience, the way love was depicted in ancient literature was way deeper and more passionate than the way it is depicted in stories now. This was one of the reasons why I enjoyed continuing to read the texts in this course. All the elements and aspects are much more intense and even though at times it was hard to follow on, the passion from the authors always came through, and especially Petrarca. The Editors of the Encyclopedia Britannica did a summary on Il Canzoniere and made Laura a literary subject in their analysis. The Encyclopedia Britannica states, “The poems treat a variety of moods and subjects but particularly his intense psychological reactions to his beloved. Many of his similes, such as burning like fire and freezing like ice, beautifully stated in the sonnet beginning ‘I find no peace, and all my war is done,’ were to be frequently repeated by sonneteers of Elizabethan England and later became poetic cliches. Some of the poems express the very simple, human wish to be with her and to be treated kindly. After Laura’s death Petrarch’s poems continued on the same themes, expressing his sorrow and describing her to return to him in dreams.” This quote from The Encyclopedia is very important because it explains how captivating Petrarca’s tactics were in the poems he was writing about Laura. The quote even says that his similes were later on used by different poets and eventually his quotes became cliche because of how often they were being used. 

To conclude, The Divine Comedy by Dante and Il Canzoniere by Petrarca portray love and women in very similar and fascinating ways. Both authors have very strong characters and passion for the women they are idolizing and it made their texts way more intriguing to read and analyze. Their portrayal of love was like a fantasy in a fairytale, and the way they depicted women brought out their use of great vocabulary and literary tactics in their writing, which made those connections feel stronger. 

References: 

  • Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. “Laura”. Encyclopedia Britannica, 2 Apr. 2021, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Laura-literary-subject. Accessed 21 December 2021.
  • Petrarca, Francesco, and Mark Musa. Selections from the Canzoniere (Poem 90) Oxford [Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, 1999. Print.
  • Dante, Alighieri, and Mark Musa. Dante’s Inferno. Canto ll; Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1971.

Canzoniere 81: Divinity

A potrait of Franseco Petrarch source: https://stock.adobe.com/contributor/289930/georgios-kollidas

Throughout this poem, Petrarca speaks on his many misdeeds and how crushed he is by the weight of those mistakes until a “friend” comes and saves him. The main theme in this poem is error/mistake and this is evident because the poem begins with a very distressed Petrarca saying ” I am so weary under the ancient burden of my sins and evil ways.” This sentence makes me believe that he is reflecting on his past actions in a form of disgust and disappointment. However, I do not believe the only theme in this poem is mistakes, there is also God.

Petrarca speaks of his fear of “falling into his enemy”, and though this enemy could be a real person, he is most likely referring to Satan and falling into temptation, until a “friend” comes and saves him from his misery and bad deeds. In this poem, the “friend” was God himself speaking to Petrarca, telling him to trust Him and His guidance to lead him down a righteous path. Although there are could be other interpretations of the friend he speaks about(especially that the friend he speaks of is Laura), this is unlikely due to the capitalization of the word “Friend” in the poem.

Petrarca ends poem 81 with a simile that I believe ties the poem together very well; “Will you give me wings like a dove To rise from Earth and find rest.” He wishes to leave behind all his prior errors and mistakes and go up to heaven with God to start over. This metaphor also shows just how much of an impact religion had on his mindset, he hopes that one day he will be able to find rest by the grace of God. However, this metaphor is also very sad, the “rest” he speaks of could also be perceived as death.

Canzoniere 189: Lost

‘A Mediterranean Brigantine Drifting Onto a Rocky Coast in a Storm’ painted by Willem van de Velde the Younger (1633-1707). This was painted following Sir Thomas Wyatt’s (1503-1542) translation of Petrarca’s 189 poem.

In this poem, Petrarca speaks about his struggle to get his soul on the right path, comparing this journey to a rough storm at sea. Throughout Petrarca’s work, we repeatedly see the message of trying to get his soul on the right path and not to be swayed by Earthly possessions, and instead wanting to focus on finding out the truth about life. For example, we see this in the allegorical meaning of the Ascent of Mount Ventoux, as he also describes the difficult journey he must take in order to become enlightened as to what life really has to offer. 

We begin the first stanza with the line “My ship is full of forgetful cargo sails”, in which he uses the metaphor of a ship (which appears in several poems of his) to describe his soul. He then goes on to state how his ship is sailing through “rough seas at the midnight of winter between Charybdis and the Scylla reef”. Through this imagery, we get the message that the journey he must go through is arduous and dangerous. Petrarca even mentions the Scylla reef and Charybdis, which are two mythical sea monsters that are typically used to describe the hazardous conditions between Sicily and Italy.  

In the second stanza, we start to see Petrarca despair at his situation. He speaks about how he dreads the storm ahead and what challenges it might bring, as well as using the imagery of his sail breaking due to “wet eternal winds of sighs, of hopes and of desires”; this line essentially describes how his own hopes and wants in life are preventing him from reaching the spiritual awakening he needs. This hopeless tone continues on in the third stanza, as he provides imagery about the stormy atmosphere, saying it’s made of “a rain of tears, a mist of my disdain”. This storm continues to destroy Petrarca’s ship as it ravages the “weary ropes made up of wrong, entwined with ignorance”. 

The last stanza encompasses Petrarca’s melancholic point of view of his journey. As evident from the past three stanzas, his journey is difficult and full of obstacles, and we begin to see his hopelessness take over him. The stanza stuck out to me in particular because of the imagery he uses to describe how lost he feels while on this journey, especially when he says his skill and reason are now “dead in the waves”. This line perfectly exemplifies how feeling hopeless while on a journey, whether it’s to reach a spiritual awakening or for another cause, can make you feel as though you have no sense of reason or skill anymore, which can drive one deeper into feeling depressed and dejected. In his final line, Petrarch repeats this sentiment by saying “and I despair of ever reaching port”, where he admits that because of how difficult this journey is and his inability to think clearly, he fears that he may never reach what his ultimate goal is.

Canzoniere 61: Bound

Italian (Venetian) School; Petrarch and Laura de Noves; The Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology; http://www.artuk.org/artworks/petrarch-and-laura-de-noves-141634

Poem 61 has an evident theme of love, especially within its first moments where Petrarca describes the emotions of when he fell in love with Laura. He expresses this theme of love throughout this poem and many others, through his uses of detailed imagery and hyperboles. 

In the first stanza of this poem, Petrarca regards the very instant and place where he first met Laura as a blessing. He explains how he felt ‘bound’ to love after he laid eyes on her ‘two lovely eyes’. This same theme of being ‘bound’ to Laura’s love is evident throughout many of his poems, not just this one. He then continues to describe this love as his ‘first sweet agony’, and explains how he is now tied to this love.

In the second stanza, he uses metaphors to compare this feeling of love to being pierced through the heart with a bow, which left wounds so deep he feared they would “reach the bottom of his heart. By using this hyperbole, he gets the reader to understand his feelings of love, and how he fell so deep in love that it caused agony and pain, and ended up hurting his heart, and portrays the struggles he had to go through when it came to loving Laura. Petrarca also mentions many Roman gods throughout his poetry to get his points across. In this particular poem, he alludes to Cupid through the mention of bows and arrows to describe his love.

In the next stanza, Petrarca discusses all of his poetry, and the main catalyst for writing them. He states that all of his poetry was made to be a call out for Laura, and a way to express his love for her, and the feelings that came with it. He also talks about how this poetry was filled with ‘all the sighs, and tears, and the desire’ that came with loving her. By stating this, Petrarca gives the reader a good sense of what most of his poetry is about, and the feelings and emotions they can find within it. It also shows how he deeply cares for Laura to the point where he has to cry out her name and shed tears.

In the last and final stanza of this poem, Petrarca talks about how all of this paper he uses to write his poetry is blessed with Laura’s grace, as she is the topic for the poetry he writes about her. Petrarca also states how every thought he has only relates to Laura, and is not shared with anyone else. 

Canzoniere 319: Shackled

Throughout Il Canzoniere, Petrarca professes his love for Laura in several ways. When he talks about the weight of her death in this sonnet, for example, it gives us, as the readers, an understanding of the admiration that he has for her. Love is seemingly the main theme of a handful of his poems, including this one, however he does not always portray it as a constant beautiful feeling. For instance, this sonnet explores the complexities of love and how it can be constricting.

In the first stanza, Petrarca writes “My days, swifter than any fawn, have fled like shadows” which explicitly reveals that he has lost all sense of time. This is awfully common for people who aren’t experiencing any excitement in their life, or have no hope for their future. He also compares the duration of all the good things in his life to a wink, which effectively shows how fast these moments come and go. Lastly, when he talks about his calmest hours, which he says are few and far between, he uses the word “bittersweet” to describe them, because his mind is truly never at ease. Even when things seem to be going better for him, he constantly thinks about how much happier he would be if he and Laura were together.

The Triumph of Death, from a 1503 edition of Petrarch. Depicts Laura’s death from the Black Plague. Source: FineArtAmerica

In the next stanza, Petrarca lets out all his anger and frustration with the world. He describes it as “wretched” and “arrogant” because of the broken condition that he was left in after Laura’s death. He also condemns any man that puts their trust into the world, even calling them “blind,” because at one point he was that same man that put his hope out there in the world. He believes that he was given false hope, as he is now unhappy because the person who owns his heart is merely dust, not a person in the flesh. Even though he is fully aware that Laura is not with us, he continues to express his love for her in the third stanza, where he says that her soul (“her best form”) continues living in the Heavens and keeps him more in love.

In the final stanza, Petrarca reintroduces the idea of time passing him by. He mentions that as he gets older and his hair grays, the only thing that he can think of is Laura and what she is like. This, once again, only reinforces the sentiment that he is chained to this love for eternity.

Il Sorgue: Il Fiume dell’Amore; Canzone 126:

¨Chiare, fresche et dolci acque ove le belle membra pose colei che sola a me par donna¨

Laura incorona Petrarca (Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, Ashb 1263, Firenze)


Nel tipico tono d’uomo moribondo a causa dell’amore che Petrarca sente per Laura avvia l´inizio della canzone 126 del Canzoniere la quale è compresa da cinque strofe ed un congedo.

La prima strofa, è piena di metafore dove il Poeta invoca l’attenzione dell’acqua del fiume, Le Sorgue, del ramo, dell’erba, dei fiori e dell’aria che lo circonda ad ascoltarlo giacché in questo luogo beato fu dove il poeta ha visto la sua cara Laura nuda per la prima volta. Sembra come se la natura stessa diventa una cosa viva a causa dell’amore che Laura ha per questo luogo. Allo stesso tempo, questo posto così vivo per Petrarca diventa il posto scelto da lui come un rifugio oppure letto di morte. Diverso dagli altri poemi nel Canzoniere, questo poema non ci dà nessun indizio che la causa della sua morte imminente sia la vecchiaia, se non l’Amore stesso che qui viene personificato, il quale sembra li aprisse e chiudesse gli occhi.
Nella seconda strofa, questo stesso Amore viene invocato dal Poeta, e gli supplica la morte proprio in quel posto così amato da lui e Laura. È curioso che la natura che circonda il Sorgues si ravvivi semplicemente entrando in contatto con Laura. L’amore che Laura ha per questo posto lo rende vivo. In un’altra dose ironica del poeta, l’amore che lui sente per Laura sembra causare la sua morte invece che il rinascimento. È per questa ragione che il Poeta ritorna a questo posto, non così tanto perché sia un rifugio dalla vita sociale ma perché è il posto dove ha avuto un incontro con Laura. E se lui non può godere un amore reciproco dalla sua amata, il poeta le basta essere sepolto nel luogo amato da lei.
Nel congedo, Petrarca parla direttamente alla sua canzone. Le dice che è libera di andare altrove se i suoi desideri sono stati soddisfatti. È facile supporre che i desideri di Petrarca per Laura non siano stati soddisfatti ancora perché continua il suo pellegrinaggio al suo rifugio ed è qui che desidera essere sepolto.

Canzone 129: Love

Poem 129 had a lot to do with love, more specifically the way Petrarca’s2 deep and profound love for Laura makes him feel. He conveys his emotions, ideas, and fears with very descriptive language. Continuously throughout Canzionere, Petrarca describes the feeling of bitterness and sorrow that is his love for Laura creates within him. The first stanza of the poem starts off with him saying that essentially, love “leads him on” from one place to another, and gets him through paths that are not well suited to living a peaceful life. As he weeps and sighs over and over again, throughout the poem, he finds himself wounded and sick with love but quickly recovers just by the thought of  things like “love saving you for better days.” 

In the following stanza, he creates an image for the reader, depicting him going up a high mountain feeling peace and thinking of Laura. He asks himself many different questions that come into his mind about love and how he treats himself in comparison to her. He stated “…perhaps; you’re loathsome to yourself but dear to her. Then to another thought, I pass and sigh: “Now could this be the truth? But how? But when?” This foreshadows a lot of what will be happening in this poem in the sense that he will be giving us an insight into what goes through his mind. Most of it, if not all will almost certainly relate back to Laura in some way.

Right after this in the next stanza, Petrarca gives us a glimpse of his point of view and state of mind again when he starts to see his lover’s face on a stone and “ feel love so close by.” He sees the love his soul carries as an error, but is satisfied with it, and asks that this error lasts because of his immense love for her and how his mind strays away from himself. He realizes that he does not give himself much thought in that moment and time, only Laura. This continues on in the next stanza when he states that he has “seen her many times-…..in the clear water and above green grass, alive, and in the trunk of a beech tree, and in a cloud of white…” It is almost as if his love for her consumes his every thought, and it is clear to see as the poem progresses. However, he repeats the same cycle and goes back to weeping and writing and coming back to reality “when the truth dispels.”

In the final stanza of this poem, he continues the imagery of climbing up to the highest and freest peak of the mountain, continuously weeping, writing, and thinking about Laura. However, halfway through he has an epiphany and starts thinking about how someone else might feel the same way about him, as he does when it comes to her. He stated “ Then softly to myself: How do you know, poor fool! Perhaps out there, somewhere, someone is sighing for your absence”, and this thought finally calms his soul.