Francesco Petrarca was an Italian humanist poet, speaker and writer. One of the precursors of the Italian Renaissance, as well as the founder of Humanism, Petrarch is attributed to the creation and dissemination of the fixed literary form called ” sonnet ” (poem formed by fourteen verses).
To learn more: Renaissance , Sonnet and Humanism
Biography
Francesco Petrarca was born in Arezzo, Italy, on July 20, 1304. Since he was a child, his family lived in several French and Italian cities, since his father was a political exile. He studied law at Montpellier, France, a course that ended in Bologna, Italy, in 1326.
In addition, Petrarch studied languages, literature, grammar, rhetoric and dialectics. During his life, he gained great influence in society from the moment he was a devotee of the church, joining the Clergy in 1330. Already recognized as a poet and great intellectual of the time, Petrarch received the title of “Poeta Laureado” on 18 April 1341. He was a friend of the Italian poet Giovanni Boccaccio (1313-1375), who considered him his spiritual and cultural master.
A curious fact of his life was when Petrarch saw Laura, his great love and inspiring muse, in the church of Avignon, France. She was mentioned in several works as “Laura de Noves”, a wife character of a French nobleman. Petrarch died in Arquà, Italy, on July 19, 1374, victim of malaria.
Petrarchism
“Petrarchism” was an Italian literary movement that emerged in the 15th century and continued until the 17th century, which influenced several European writers. His main focus of study was Petrarch’s lyrical poetry, based on love themes. Petrarchist poetics stood out as an example of perfection based on simple language and metric innovations, such as the use of hendecassyllable verses (verse composed of eleven poetic syllables).
Main Works
Petrarch’s work is quite vast, however the humanist excelled in poetry, writing more than 300 sonnets; the main works of the writer are:
- Songbook and Triunfo ( ” Canzoniere and Trionfi “)
- My secret book (“ Secretum ”)
- Itinerary to the Holy Land (“ Itinerarium ”)
Phrases
- “ Five great enemies of peace dwell within us: greed, ambition, envy, anger and vanity. If we were able to banish them, we would inevitably enjoy perpetual peace . ”
- ” Enemy of peace, source of unrest, cause of fights that destroy all tranquility, the woman is the devil himself .”
- “ Valor will take weapons against the furor. And let the combat be short! For old courage has not yet died In the hearts of Italians . ”
- “ For noble souls, death is the end of a dark prison; it is, however, sadness for those who put all their care into the mud . ”
- ” Books have led some people to learn, others to insanity .”
- ” The two most difficult love letters to write are the first and the last .”