To give newcomers a taste of what we have been discussing and to refresh the memories of long-timers here, we started this volume by discusssing the Age of Petrarch and Boccaccio. We read about Francesco Petrarca being the "Father of the Renaissance" and talked some about the city of Naples. We also discussed Siena, Milan, Venice and Genoa.
If those names spark a thought in any of you, please comment on them, even if it is not related in any way to what Durant told us. Have you read about those cities? Have you visited any of them? Please share your memories.
Robby
For many years I have been interested in literary history so I've been trying to recall whatever it is that I once knew about Petrarch and Boccaccio. I gather they have already been discussed on the old site but if you can bear with me here are a few snippets which come to mind...
So far as Petrarch goes I remember that he had a passion for the ancient Greek & Latin literature and was one of the first to realise the significance of Greek literature and to read the classical texts with any real insight. He learned Greek specifically to read Homer in the original and searched all over Europe for Greek and Latin manuscripts to build up his personal library.
It is in his poetry that we see his greatest literary achievement and the greatest of these is the series written in Italian and dedicated to 'Laura' whom he loved from a distance in the manner of the courtly love tradition. Laura is pure and chaste and there are many references in commentaries as to what might have happened if one day she had decided to yield - I daresay Petrarch would have run for dear life! It would have ruined the poetry had she given in to his blandishments so it's just as well that she behaved herself.
Here's one of his pieces:
A Complaint by Night of the Lover not Beloved (Francesco Petrarca)
Alas, so all things now do hold their peace!
Heaven and earth disturbed in no thing;
The beasts, the air, the birds their song do cease,
The nightes car the stars about doth bring;
Calm is the sea; the waves work less and less:
So am not I, whom love, alas! doth wring,
Bringing before my face the great increase
Of my desires, whereat I weep and sing,
In joy and woe, as in a doubtful case.
For my sweet thoughts sometime do pleasure bring;
But by and by, the cause of my disease
Gives me a pang that inwardly doth sting,
When that I think what grief it is again
To live and lack the thing should rid my pain.
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Trans. Henry Howard, Earl of SurreyPetrarch's sonnets have had a strong influence on the lyric poetry of Europe including that of English verse. In the 15th and 16th centuries it was common among young Englishmen who were travelling in Italy as part of their education to become so enthralled by Petrarch's sonnets that they tried their hand at the same thing only in English. As a result we have the poems of men like Sir Thomas Wyatt (who, in fact brought the sonnet form into English literature), Sir Phillip Sidney and Henry Howard, the Earl of Surrey who was responsible for translating Petrarch into English (I've used his translation above). And there's no doubt too, that especially in the sonnets Shakespeare shows the Petrarchian influence.
Robby, Tell me if this isn't the sort of thing you want.
You asked me what a Gumtree is other than my screen name- Gum tree is the common name for the numerous varieties of Eucaltypt trees which dominate the Australian landscape. There are 1500 (and still counting) different ones from small scrubby bushes to giant, elegant trees soaring into the sky. My favourites are the Eucalyptus Marginata - the Jarrah which produces a glorious reddish hardwood which is much prized and becoming rarer to acquire in quantity, and the Eucalyptus Diversifolia - the Karri also a good wood but which in season puts on a superb colouration in its bark that ranges from pale pink through apricots to salmon, into pale pale blues, soft greys and silver. - all at once - it's simply stunning to see. The Gum trees are intrinsically Australian - as am I.
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