World Civilization
to 1550 C.E.

World Civilization
1550 to the present

World Civilization Interactive Journey

HIST 4130/5130
The Middle Ages

HIST 4950/5950
Medieval Monasticism

HIST 4140/5140
Renaissance and
Reformation

HIST 4280/5280:
Intellectual and
Cultural History
of Europe
to 1500 C.E.

HIST 4285/5285:
Intellectual and
Cultural History
of Europe
since 1500 C.E.

IDST 2310:
The Fine and
Applied Arts
in Civilization

IDST 2205:
Global Issues

Women's Studies

Study Abroad

Writing Resources

Style Sheets and Manuals

Internet
Search
Engines

Databases, Bibliographies,
and other WWW
Research Resources

WebCrossing
Discussions

Online Quizzes

Virtual Tours

Georgia College &
State University

Petrarch
Francesco Petrarca
1304-1374

OBJECTIVES:

  1. Be able to discuss examples of Petrarch's involvement in the active life.
  2. Be able to discuss examples of Petrarch's dedication to the contemplative life.
  3. Be able to discuss and explain the tension between the active and contemplative lives in Petrarch's writings and life, and between negotium and otium.
  4. Be able to discuss how the concept of dissidio relates to the tension between the active and contemplative lives in Petrarch's writings and in his inner development.
  5. Be able to discuss the role of writing in Petrarch's life, and in his creation of the self he aspired to be.
  6. Be able to relate Petrarch's views on writing to the historiographical thesis of Ernesto Grasi on humanism, rhetoric, and words.
  7. Be able to discuss and give examples of the influence on and the role of the classics in Petrarch's writings.
  8. Be able to discuss Petrarch's view of "imitating" the classics and its relevance to Renaissance concepts of the past and present.
  9. Be able to compare and contrast the role of Laura in Petrarch's writings to Fiametta in Boccaccio's works and to Beatrice in Dante's work.

TERMS:

otium:
leisure and, in particular for Petrarch, literary recreation
negotium:
worldly business which often interferes with otium
dissidio:
inner sadness of soul
active life:
life engaged in the world
contemplative life:
life of meditation and prayer focuses on the pursuit of the Spirit, often in isolation from the world

FAMOUS QUOTATIONS:

On the use and influence of the classics:
"Resemblance should not be that of a portrait to a sitter... but of a son to a father, where there is often divergence in particular features...." Familiares XXIII 19

On the conflict between negotium and otium:
"My wishes fluctuate and my desires conflict, and in their conflict they tear me apart. Thus does the outer man struggle with the inner." Familiares II 9

On the merits of his own age:
"I am alive now yet would I rather have been born at some other time." De vita solitaria I 8

At the summit of Mt. Ventoux:
"Men go to admire the heights of mountains and the mighty flood of seas and the broad swell of rivers and the compass of the ocean and the wheeling of the stars, yet to themselves they pay no heed. Augustine, Confessions X viii 15

On Laura:
"Laura, illustrious for her own virtues and long celebrated in my poetry, fist appeared to me in my early manhood in the church of St. Clare in Avignon, in the 1327th year of our Lord, on 6 April, at the early morning service. And in the same city, in the same month of April, on the same 6th day, in the same first hour of the year 1348, her light was taken from the world..." Manuscript of the Aeneid, which Petrarch had annotated

OUTLINE

    I. Introduction
      A. Father of Humanism
      B. First modern man?
        I) Introspection
        ii) self-consciousness
      C. Tension between modern and medieval man
    II. Biography
      A. Birth in Arezzo
      B. Avignon
      C. Montpellier and Bologna: Law
        i) works of Cicero
        ii ) Italian vernacular lyric poetry
      D. Death of Father and Return to Avignon
        i) Laura
          a) Good Friday
        ii) the peregrinus ubique (the pilgrim everywhere)
          a) discovery of manuscripts
          b) themes in literature
      E. Vaucluse and otium
      F. The Poet Laureate
      G. Laura's death
      H. Boccaccio
      I. Arqua
      F. Death
    III. Life and Literature
      A. Life as a Journey
        i) classical images
        ii) literature as life
        iii) life as literature
          a) journey as form of imitation
          b) journey as dissatisfaction and escape
        iv) references to motion
          a) The Ascent of Mt. Ventoux
        v) paradox of restlessness
      B. Life as a Work of Art
        i) Writing and the Creation of Petrarch
          a) writing as therapy
          b) life as a fabula
          c) revision of works and the peregrinus ubique
          d)compositional process as a journey in constant motion
          e) invention of dates and materials
          f) later interpolation of earlier thoughts, feelings, and attitudes
          g) assumption of roles and personas of classic heroes
          h) overcoming the tension between life and words
          i) recreating the past to make sense of the present
          j) Life and letters: Ernesto Grassi Thesis
          k) Laura
          l) The Ascent of Mt. Ventoux
    IV. Conflict between the Active and Contemplative Lives
      A. The nature of the conflict
        i) negotium/otium
        ii) Petrarch's poignant description
        iii) Petrarch's dissidio
      B. Love of the ancient past and negotium: Standing on the Shoulders of Giants
        i) paradoxical disdain for present
        ii) modeling of works on the classics
          a) imitation vs. Remodeling
          b) Christianizing the Pagans
          c) Petrarch and Dante: continuity vs. Separation
        iii) passion for historical accuracy
          a) editing of Livy
          b) myth of Dido and Aeneas
          c) historical ruins
        iv) application of literature to life
          a)involvement in contemporary affairs
          b) Cola di Rienzo
          c) Petitions to Popes in Avignon
          d) his desire for fame
        v) conflict between philosophy and rhetoric
      C. Otium
        i) De vita solitaria
        ii) how contemplative and how active?
      D. Relationship between active and contemplative lives
        i) contemplation as source of action
    V. Summary