Petrarch

Petrarch's Canzoniere stands as one of the greatest and most influential collections of love poetry ever written. In a classic story of love at first sight, the young poet expresses in beautiful verse his unrequited reverence for Laura, a muse who would prove as inspirational as Beatrice to Dante. Stricken with grief after Laura's death, Petrarch transmuted his sorrow onto...

A judicious selection of the varied writings of the great humanist, translated from both Latin and Italian. The introduction is admirably structured, clear and coherent, and presents Petrarch to the reader without didacticism or oversimplification. It is valuable to have some of his most important letters, including a verse epistle. Hainsworth has a light editorial touch and has deliberately omitted...