PETRARCH THE AUTHOR 



The vernacular poetry of Petrarch consists of the Can- 

 zoniere and the Trionfi. The Canzoniere is made up 

 of 366 poems, 317 of them being sonnets, 29 canzoni, 

 9 sestine, 7 ballate, and 4 madrigals. In the matter of 

 verse forms he is not an innovator. There has been 

 some question as to the quarter whence he got two 

 of his types, the sestina and the terza rima, whether 

 from Dante or from Provencal or from other Italian 

 poets: it is almost certain that he was indebted to all 

 these sources — to Lapo Gianni and Cino da Pistoia, 

 for instance, both for language and for ideas. Never- 

 theless, beyond a doubt, whatever be his indebtedness 

 to any poets of any place and any time, Petrarch is 

 Petrarch, and we are perfectly correct when we speak 

 of his influence upon the literatures of Italy and other 

 countries, from his own days down to ours — an influ- 

 ence which is one of the most notable in all history. 



Not all of the poems in his great collection treat of 

 Laura: some thirty have to do with subjects not con- 

 cerned with love; and when a reader is taking the 

 Canzoniere in long draughts, these poems are refresh- 

 ing — not merely because of novelty, either, for they 



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