There is nothing worse than an unreciprocated love.

At one time or another, we all come to recognize the bitter truth of this statement. Some of us have recovered from our Beatrices and Lauras, while others try to grapple with love's luminous peril being lost to them. Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch) falls into the latter category.

Mark Musa, whose edition of the Divine Comedy I recently reviewed, is also the translator of this selection. He places a strong emphasis on Petrarch's "Augustinian" nature: someone who struggles between the "Flesh and the Spirit", the love of Laura and the love of God. The two letters which form a sort of introduction set up this theme quite well. Here is Petrarch, a young poet and cleric, who recognizes a personal and existential contradiction within himself. And because of this conflict between his personal youthful desire and the realities of life, this gives him good reason to be considered the Italian Renaissance's forbearer.

As for the Canzoniere selections themselves, I found them highly edifying. The lyrical play between unrequited love, the role of the Sacred, and the natural metaphors create a liminal space for Petrarch to explore the one sole thing he desired, but never could attain. If Musa's work moved me, I cannot imagine how powerful the Italian is.