Petrarch’s canzone on a dream of laura, translated by margaret coats

Written in Italian, the collection extends the scope of the vernacular to express complex emotions. Petrarch not only explores romantic love but also imbues the work with his personal ethos, encompassing humanist, secular, and religious principles. His focus on self-reflection and personal spiritual journey marks a shift in European literature, although he also acknowledges Roman literary heritage.

Created over four decades, from just after to around , the Canzoniere significantly influenced European Renaissance poetry, particularly in France, Spain, and England. It played a role in the continued development of sonnet sequences up to the 17th century and their resurgence in 19th-century England. Author Details. His father, Ser Petracco, was a contemporary of Dante Alighieri.

Petrarch's early years were spent in Incisa, near Florence, and later, following Pope Clement V's relocation of the papacy, in Avignon and Carpentras. He studied law at the Universities of Montpellier and Bologna but pursued a career in literature — against the wishes of his father. Petrarch's literary career began with his work "Africa," a Latin epic on the Roman general Scipio Africanus.

Italian poet Francesco Petrarca (–) carefully created a sequence of poems, mostly sonnets, telling of his love for Laura, a Provençal lady.

He gained fame as the second poet laureate since classical antiquity, crowned in Rome on April 8, His discovery of Cicero's letters in significantly contributed to the early Italian Renaissance and the development of Renaissance humanism. His scholarly travels across Europe contributed to the revival of both Greek and Latin culture. Despite his inability to read Greek himself, he played a key role in reviving interest in Homer's works.

Petrarch's most enduring legacy is his collection the "Canzoniere," comprising sonnets, and "I Trionfi," a six-part narrative poem. Both were highly significant in the development of Renaissance lyrical poetry. His sonnets, particularly those about his idealized love for the possibly fictitious Laura, were widely imitated and celebrated throughout Europe.