Petrarch

Introduction & Top Questions
Education and early poems
Classical studies and career (1330–40)
Moral and literary evolution (1340–46)
Break with his past (1346–53)
Later years (1353–74)

Quotes References & Edit History Quick Facts & Related Topics

Images

Engraving of Petrarch wearing a laurel wreath and a robe, holding a closed book in his left hand.

At a Glance

Petrarch summary

Quizzes

Illustration of "The Lamb" from "Songs of Innocence" by William Blake, 1879. poem; poetry

A Study of Poetry

4:043 Dickinson, Emily: A Life of Letters, This is my letter to the world/That never wrote to me; I'll tell you how the Sun Rose/A Ribbon at a time; Hope is the thing with feathers/That perches in the soul

Famous Poets and Poetic Form

Emily Dickinson (1830-1886) only confirmed photograph of Emily Dickinson. 1978 scan of a Daguerreotype. ca. 1847; in the Amherst College Archives. American poet. See Notes:

Poetry: First Lines

Beginning of the old English poem, Beowulf, believed to have been composed between 700 and 750. (Old English literature)

Poets and Poetry (Part Two) Quiz

Related Questions

How did Petrarch become connected to Cardinal Giovanni Colonna’s household?
How did Petrarch describe the role of a poet in society?
How did Petrarch help establish lyric poetry as a serious literary form?
How did Petrarch influence later humanists such as Boccaccio and Coluccio Salutati?
How did Petrarch organize the poems in the Canzoniere?
How did Petrarchism spread through Italy, Spain, France, and England?
How did Petrarch’s discovery of Cicero’s letters in Verona affect his own writing?
How did Petrarch’s interest in Rome’s ancient ruins shape his ideas?
How did Petrarch’s letters become models for later humanist writers?
How did Petrarch’s poems about Laura change after her death in 1348?
How did Petrarch’s poetry influence William Shakespeare’s sonnet tradition?
How did the Black Death affect Petrarch’s life and writings?
How many poems in the Canzoniere concern Laura after her death?
How many poems in the Canzoniere concern Laura during her lifetime?
What did Petrarch promise Venice in exchange for a house?
What did Petrarch’s laurel coronation symbolize?
What happened to Petrarch on his journey to Rome in 1370?
What historical event is the subject of Petrarch’s Latin epic Africa?
What is the main subject of Petrarch’s allegorical poem Trionfi?
What kinds of people did Petrarch plan to include in De viris illustribus?
What manuscript was Petrarch working with when he died?
What personal conflicts does Petrarch explore in Secretum meum?
What themes appear in Petrarch’s poems about Laura?
What was Petrarch’s full Italian name?
When and where was Petrarch born?
When and where was Petrarch crowned poet laureate?
When did Petrarch first see Laura in Avignon?
Where did Petrarch die in 1374?
Where did Petrarch study law before abandoning it?
Which famous English poets were influenced by Petrarch’s love sonnets?
Which poetic forms did Petrarch include in the Canzoniere?
Which works by Cicero did Petrarch discover in Liège?
Who speaks with Petrarch in Secretum meum?
Why did Petrarch choose Rome rather than Paris for his poetic coronation?
Why did Petrarch consider rhetoric important for moral education?
Why did Petrarch leave Avignon for Milan in 1353?
Why did Petrarch move from Padua to Venice during the plague?
Why did Petrarch reject medieval Scholasticism?
Why did Petrarch search monastic libraries for ancient manuscripts?
Why did Petrarch support Cola di Rienzo’s attempt to revive the Roman Republic?
Why did Petrarch value his Latin epic Africa so highly?
Why did Petrarch’s family move to Avignon?
Why is Laura’s historical identity uncertain?
Why is Petrarch considered a founder of Renaissance humanism?
Why is Petrarch important?
What did Petrarch write?
How was Raphael educated?
Why is Jonathan Swift an important writer?
What was Jonathan Swift’s family like when he was growing up?
What is Jonathan Swift best known for?
Did Jonathan Swift ever get married?
What were Jonathan Swift’s political views?
Where was Titian born?
Why is Emily Dickinson important?

Literature Poetry Poets L-Z

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External Websites

The Guardian - Petrarch - the poet who lost his head
University of Bologna - Petrarch (Petrarca)
Medieval Life and Times - Petrarch
World History Encyclopedia - Petrarch
Poets.org - Biography of Petrarch

Britannica Websites

Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students.

Petrarch - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up)

Petrarch

Italian poet

Also known as: Francesco Petrarca

Written by

John Humphreys Whitfield

Serena Professor of Italian Language and Literature, University of Birmingham, England, 1946–74. Author of Petrarch and the Renascence and others.

John Humphreys Whitfield

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Britannica Editors

Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree....

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History

Petrarch (born July 20, 1304, Arezzo, Tuscany [Italy]—died July 18/19, 1374, Arquà, near Padua, Carrara) was an Italian scholar, poet, and humanist whose poems addressed to Laura, an idealized beloved, contributed to the Renaissance flowering of lyric poetry. Petrarch’s inquiring mind and love of Classical authors led him to travel, visiting men of learning and searching monastic libraries for Classical manuscripts. He was regarded as the greatest scholar of his age. Petrarch’s father, a lawyer,...

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