The 100 Most Influential Writers of All Time by Britannica Educational Publishing Page A
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although she was outside his reach, almost until his death. From this love there springs the work for which he is most celebrated, the Italian poems (
Rime
), which he affected to despise as mere trifles in the vulgar tongue but which he collected and revised throughout his life.
During the 1330s, which were years of ambition, unremitting study, and travel, Petrarchâs reputation as a scholar spread. He was crowned as poet on the Capitoline Hill on April 8, 1341, afterward placing his laurel wreath on the tomb of the Apostle in St. Peterâs Basilica, a symbolic gesture linking the Classical tradition with the Christian message.
He subsequently became enthusiastic for the efforts of Cola di Rienzo to revive the Roman republic and restore popular government in Romeâa sympathy that divided him still more sharply from the Avignon court and in 1346 even led to the loss of Cardinal Colonnaâs friendship. The Plague of 1348, known as the Black Death, saw many friends fall victim, including Laura, who died on April 6, the anniversary of Petrarchâs first seeing her. Finally, in the jubilee year of 1350 he made a pilgrimage to Rome and laterassigned to this year his renunciation of sensual pleasures. The time in between these landmark events was filled with diplomatic missions, study, and immense literary activity.
In 1351 he began work on a new plan for the
Rime
, which he had begun writing two decades earlier. The project was divided into two parts: the
Rime in vita di Laura
(âPoems During Lauraâs Lifeâ) and the
Rime in morte di Laura
(âPoems After Lauraâs Deathâ), which he now selected and arranged to illustrate the story of his own spiritual growth. The theme of his
Canzoniere
(as the poems are usually known) therefore goes beyond the apparent subject matter, his love for Laura. He also continued work on the
Epistolae metricae
(66 âlettersâ in Latin hexameter verses), begun in 1350; he embarked on a polemic against the conservative enemies of his new conception of education, which rejected the prevailing Aristotelianism of the schools and restored the spiritual worth of Classical writers. He also began work on his poem
Trionfi
, a generalized version of the story of the human soul in its progress from earthly passion toward fulfillment in God.
After a number of moves and intense work on the definitive versions of his various writings, Petrarch found himself in Padua in 1367. He remained there until his death, dividing his time from 1370 between Padua and Arquà , in the neighbouring Euganean hills, where he had a little house. There he wrote the defense of his humanism,
De sui ipsius et multorum ignorantia
. He was still in great demand as a diplomat. Despite suffering a stroke in 1370, he did not stop working; in addition to revisions, he composed more minor works and added new sections to his
Posteritati
, an autobiographical letter to posterity that was to have formed the conclusion to his
Seniles
; he also composed the final sections of the
Trionfi
. Petrarch died while working in his study at Arquà and was found the next morning, his head resting on a manuscript of Virgil.
GEOFFREY CHAUCER
----
(b.
c
. 1342/43, London?, Eng.âd. Oct. 25, 1400, London)
T he Canterbury Tales
by Geoffrey Chaucer, the outstanding English poet before Shakespeare, ranks as one of the greatest poetic works in English. Chaucer also contributed importantly in the second half of the 14th century to the management of public affairs as courtier, diplomat, and civil servant. But it is his avocationâthe writing of poetryâfor which he is remembered.
E ARLY Y EARS
Chaucer first appears in the records in 1357, as a member of the household of Elizabeth, countess of Ulster, wife of Lionel, third son of Edward III. By 1359 Chaucer was a member of Edward IIIâs army in France and was captured during the unsuccessful siege of Reims, and by 1366 Chaucer had married.
Rime
), which he affected to despise as mere trifles in the vulgar tongue but which he collected and revised throughout his life.
During the 1330s, which were years of ambition, unremitting study, and travel, Petrarchâs reputation as a scholar spread. He was crowned as poet on the Capitoline Hill on April 8, 1341, afterward placing his laurel wreath on the tomb of the Apostle in St. Peterâs Basilica, a symbolic gesture linking the Classical tradition with the Christian message.
He subsequently became enthusiastic for the efforts of Cola di Rienzo to revive the Roman republic and restore popular government in Romeâa sympathy that divided him still more sharply from the Avignon court and in 1346 even led to the loss of Cardinal Colonnaâs friendship. The Plague of 1348, known as the Black Death, saw many friends fall victim, including Laura, who died on April 6, the anniversary of Petrarchâs first seeing her. Finally, in the jubilee year of 1350 he made a pilgrimage to Rome and laterassigned to this year his renunciation of sensual pleasures. The time in between these landmark events was filled with diplomatic missions, study, and immense literary activity.
In 1351 he began work on a new plan for the
Rime
, which he had begun writing two decades earlier. The project was divided into two parts: the
Rime in vita di Laura
(âPoems During Lauraâs Lifeâ) and the
Rime in morte di Laura
(âPoems After Lauraâs Deathâ), which he now selected and arranged to illustrate the story of his own spiritual growth. The theme of his
Canzoniere
(as the poems are usually known) therefore goes beyond the apparent subject matter, his love for Laura. He also continued work on the
Epistolae metricae
(66 âlettersâ in Latin hexameter verses), begun in 1350; he embarked on a polemic against the conservative enemies of his new conception of education, which rejected the prevailing Aristotelianism of the schools and restored the spiritual worth of Classical writers. He also began work on his poem
Trionfi
, a generalized version of the story of the human soul in its progress from earthly passion toward fulfillment in God.
After a number of moves and intense work on the definitive versions of his various writings, Petrarch found himself in Padua in 1367. He remained there until his death, dividing his time from 1370 between Padua and Arquà , in the neighbouring Euganean hills, where he had a little house. There he wrote the defense of his humanism,
De sui ipsius et multorum ignorantia
. He was still in great demand as a diplomat. Despite suffering a stroke in 1370, he did not stop working; in addition to revisions, he composed more minor works and added new sections to his
Posteritati
, an autobiographical letter to posterity that was to have formed the conclusion to his
Seniles
; he also composed the final sections of the
Trionfi
. Petrarch died while working in his study at Arquà and was found the next morning, his head resting on a manuscript of Virgil.
GEOFFREY CHAUCER
----
(b.
c
. 1342/43, London?, Eng.âd. Oct. 25, 1400, London)
T he Canterbury Tales
by Geoffrey Chaucer, the outstanding English poet before Shakespeare, ranks as one of the greatest poetic works in English. Chaucer also contributed importantly in the second half of the 14th century to the management of public affairs as courtier, diplomat, and civil servant. But it is his avocationâthe writing of poetryâfor which he is remembered.
E ARLY Y EARS
Chaucer first appears in the records in 1357, as a member of the household of Elizabeth, countess of Ulster, wife of Lionel, third son of Edward III. By 1359 Chaucer was a member of Edward IIIâs army in France and was captured during the unsuccessful siege of Reims, and by 1366 Chaucer had married.
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