Author : Francesco Petrarch
Release : 2013-09
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Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 187/5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis Some Love Songs of Petrarch by : Francesco Petrarch

Download or read book Some Love Songs of Petrarch written by Francesco Petrarch. This book was released on 2013-09. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1915 edition. Excerpt: ...in vain '-1 And yet, through all the vicissitudes of this story of his love, there is still a certain underlying unity in the Canzoniere. Petrarch's passion became greatly exalted and purified by the tender, yet reserved and virtuous behaviour of his mistress. While Laura is far more a daughter of earth than Dante's Beatrice, she still appears in his songs as a noble and gracious, as well as a very lovable, character, not at all the 'heartless coquette' that Macaulay calls her. If there was apparent coquetry in her conduct, 1 Piumati, 38. it would seem to be due to pity and perhaps affection for her lover struggling with duty rather than to pleasure in inflicting pain. In the poems written after her death, when she had become glorified in his recollection and imagination, she approached more closely to the type of Beatrice, and in some of these poems Dante's influence (which Petrarch avoided in his earlier productions) is distinctly traceable. In the words of Cochin1 the Canzoniere describes 'a passion ardent and carnal at the outset, but restrained by the honour and virtue of the lady whom he loved, and which, purified by sorrow at her death, was raised to an ideal love, and this too finally transformed into the love of God '. From the first passionate sestine to the noble 'Hymn to the Virgin' at the end, this is the history recorded in Petrarch's love songs. His moods change from day to day, but through the long years we can trace the progress of a gradual spiritual development. And this brings us to consider another senti-His ment which powerfully influenced the poet, at JfJjP' least during the later portion of his career, namely, his deep religious feeling. It appears that he had this even in his early life, and he represents St....