PETRARCH THE MAN 



his whole Hfe to those things which in my eyes were but 

 the flower and first fruits of my youth ? It is true that 

 I have sometimes said, to those who wished to know 

 precisely what I thought, that his style was unequal, 

 for he rises to a higher plane of excellence in the verna- 

 cular than in Latin poetry or prose. But you will not 

 deny this; nor will it, if rightly understood, carry with 

 it any disparagement of his fame and glory/ ^ 



In this letter, which for many reasons is important, 

 Petrarch gives as his reason that he wished to avoid 

 unconscious (and not merely conscious) imitation. 

 That was his reason for not reading Dante before; and 

 it is remarkable, because what we call plagiarism was 

 then common enough, and went unrebuked. But 

 suppose a close examination of his vernacular poetry 

 should show that he had been a close student of Dante, 

 assimilating forms and ideas and what not, and turning 

 them to account ? Would that not convict him of out- 

 rageous bad faith ? Many an article has been written 

 on both sides of this question, and I do not know that 

 there is as yet any real agreement. Carducci, one of 

 the most gifted Italian scholars and poets of our day, 

 thought that only after receiving Boccaccio's gift of the 

 Divine Comedy did Petrarch imitate Dante, and then 

 especially in the Trionfi. Carducci has been followed 

 by Hortis, Bartoli, Nolhac; and one scholar, Melodia, 

 denies any influence whatever, either in the Canzoniere 

 or in the Trionfi. On the other side Cesareo, Moschetti, 

 and Lamma find imitation and reminiscences. It is 



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