Selections from the Canzoniere and Other Works

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Petrarch (1304-74), Italy's greatest lyric poet, was a diplomat, a classical scholar, and poet laureate by the age of 37. His most influential legacy is undoubtedly the "Canzoniere," a collection of 366 outstanding love poems. Their inspiration was the elusive lady Laura, the object of Petrarch's unrequited passion for nearly forty years, and at times a metaphor for his other obsession, worldly glory. It is this other theme, and the conflicts created by the poet's yearning for spirituality, that form the subjects of the two autobiographical prose pieces included here, the "Letter to Posterity" and "The Ascent of Mount Ventoux." The hesitations and choices expressed in these letters illuminate the "Canzoniere," whose elegant sophistication belies the strength of its passion. The delicacy of Petrarch's original has been faithfully preserved in this verse translation by Mark Musa. -- From publisher's description