April 06, 2010
Petrarch: Just one look (1327)
At 23, Francesco Petrarch glanced across the Church of Saint Claire in Avignon, France, and saw the inspiration for his life’s work.In his poetry, she was Laura. While some doubt she existed, most believe that she was Laura de Noves, the 19-year-old wife. In an instant, he was in love, but she did not return his affection. For 21 years, he loved her, and when she died (possibly of the plague) at age 38 in 1348, he mourned.
The result was the “Canzoniere,” a collection of 366 sonnets that added to and revised up until his death. It was written in colloquial Italian, at a time when most works were written in Latin.
A scholar who revived the study of Greek and Latin literature, Petrarch’s poetry influenced Western literature for the next four centuries. For example, Petrarch’s translation of the Griselda story from his friend Giovanni Boccaccio’s “Decameron” was used by Geoffrey Chaucer for his “Clerk’s Tale.”
But we remember him most for his unrequited love affair with his Laura, and the ecstasy and agony it caused him:
"In my younger days I struggled constantly with an overwhelming but pure love affair - my only one, and I would have struggled with it longer had not premature death, bitter but salutary for me, extinguished the cooling flames. I certainly wish I could say that I have always been entirely free from desires of the flesh, but I would be lying if I did."Born: Jean-Baptiste Rousseau, poet, Paris, 1671; Lincoln Steffens, journalist, editor, essayist, memoirist, San Francisco, 1866; Dan Andersson, poet, Skattlösberget, Sweden, 1888; Alice Bach, novelist, New York City, 1942.
Died: Fitz-James O’Brien, journalist, playwright, author, Cumberland, Md., 1862; Edwin Arlington Robinson, poet, New York City, 1935; Rose Cecil O’Neill, author, illustrator, Kewpie Doll creator, Springfield, Mo., 1944; Isaac Asimov, sci-fi novelist, short-story writer, author, New York City, 1992.
Quote for the Day: “Power is what men see, and any group that gets it will abuse it. It is the same old story.” — Lincoln Steffens, reporter and muckraker, who was born today in 1866
Also from “Writers 365”:
- Roland romanticized (778)
- That Damned Dante (1315)
- Francoise Villon arrested for murder (1455)
- Gutenberg builds a book (1455)
- Michael Servertus and the Fatal Book Review (1553)
Enjoy this post? Share it with others.
