NOTES TO THE SONNETS, AND ODES. SONNET I. IN this first Sonnet, which serves as a proem to the Sonnets in general, the classic reader will perceive how closely Horace is copied in the fourth, ninth, and tenth lines of the Italian. See his Od. 1. Lib. 4. and Epod. 11. The Abbé de Sade, author of Memoires pour la Vie de Petrarque, remarks, however, that Sonnet VI. Vergognando talor, &c. ought perhaps to stand as the first in the collection: for he therein accuses himself of not having yet sung the beauty of his mistress, it may therefore justly be supposed the first Sonnet he wrote upon her. A translation in old English of the present poem may be found in the same collection of Songes and Sonnettes as contain the preceding prefatory Sonnet in black letter; it is entitled: The lover asketh pardon of his passed folly in love. SONNET II. This stands as the first of the many Sonnets Petrarch composed, to celebrate that memorable day, which gave such colour to his life, when he first saw Laura at the church of St. Claire, in Avignon; it was on a Monday, April 6, 1327. "Till "then," says he, "I had been guilty of much offence towards “Love, by not sooner submitting to his power; but he has at "length avenged himself." And to express this, our poet assumes a military metaphor. SONNET III. A well-educated lady, named Giustina Levi Perotti of Sassoferrato, daughter of Andrea Perotti of the ancient, and illustrious house of Levi, was enthusiastically fond of poetry; and this turn having drawn upon her the raillery of some of her friends, she consulted Petrarch in a Sonnet whether he would advise her to indulge it. He answered her by the present Sonnet, which is composed of the same rhymes with that the lady sent. In the twelfth line of the original some few edi tions have l'alta via. SONNET IV. Petrarch, it would appear, sometimes amused himself with the sports of the field. Having one day caught a brace of birds, which some contend were woodpigeons, others partridges,, in the country near Laura's birth-place, he sent them to a friend, probably James Colonna, the bishop, with the present Sonnet, which the birds themselves are supposed to speak, although in no living state, as is evident from the eleventh line. This composition is by the Abbé de Sade referred to the year 1331. Tassoni, who is often humorous, as well as severe, in his criticisms on Petrarch, observes with respect to the first eight lines, that, l'ordine è più sconvolto, e ritorto, che non è la coda del gran diavolo. 1 ODE I.. "In early beauty," says Petrarch, “ ere you were aware of my passion, and when you endeavoured to render yourself "generally pleasing, you then displayed to me all your charms; "but now that you know my attachment, you hide with (6 your veil those particular beauties to which I am so partial, your fine hair, and lovely eyes. What else can account for your so constantly wearing that veil; whether the sun re"quires it, or no; whether it be warm, or cold?" Such is the interpretation of Daniello, Vellutello, and others. He again expresses his hostility towards this veil, in Sonnet XXXII. Tacitus attributes a similar artifice of the veil to Poppea : Velata parte oris, ne satiaret aspectum, vel quia sic decebat. In what high estimation Petrarch was held by the writers, particularly the amatory poets, in the beginning of the 16th century, is evident from their frequent translations, and imitations of his verse. Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, and Sir Thomas Wyat the elder, two of the most polite scholars, and gentlemen of Henry the eighth's court, are striking instances of this: they copy him continually; and have been justly termed the reformers of our English metre, and style. As a specimen of Lord Surrey's manner, I will give his translation entire of this first Canzone of Petrarch, which he entitles: Complaint that hys Ladie after she knew of hys love, kept her face alwayes hydden from hym. I never sawe my ladie laye apart Her cornet blacke, in colde nor yet in heate, Sith fyrst she knew my griefe was growen so greate, The whyche unwares dyd wound my woful brest, SONNET V. Petrarch is supposed to have written this Sonnet during the year 1331. In the seventh line he takes occasion to mention, as he does in other parts of his poems, the very garment, and its colour, which Laura had on the first day he saw her. Tassoni calls those sighs of Laura in her old-age, mentioned in the last line: Il soccorso di Pisa, che arrivò quaranta giorni dopo ch' ella fu presa. SONNET VI. See the note to Sonnet I. The metaphor taken up in the fifth line is evidently in imitation of Horace. |