Canzoniere

The theme of his Canzoniere (as the poems are usually known) therefore goes beyond the apparent subject matter, his love for Laura. For the first time in the history of the new poetry, lyrics are held together in a marvelous new tapestry, possessing its own unity. By selecting all…

His Canzoniere—a sequence of poems including 317 sonnets, addressed to his idealized beloved, Laura—established and perfected the Petrarchan (or Italian) sonnet, which remains one of the two principal sonnet forms, as well as the one most widely used. The other major form is the English (or…

His Canzoniere, written from 1330 until his death in 1374, provided the model on which the Renaissance lyric was to take shape and the standard by which future works would be judged. His work established secular poetry as a serious and noble pursuit. His eloquent and…

The Canzoniere—a collection of sonnets, songs, sestine, ballads, and madrigals on which he worked indefatigably from 1330 until his death—gave these ideals poetic expression. Although this collection of vernacular poems was intended to tell the story of Petrarch’s love for Laura, it is in fact an…