The Poetry of Petrarch Translated By David Young

Ineffable sweetness, bold, uncanny sweetness_x000D_

that came to my eyes from her lovely face; _x000D_

from that day on I'd willingly have closed them, _x000D_

never to gaze again at lesser beauties._x000D_

–from Sonnet 116_x000D_

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"David Young's version of Petrarch will refresh our images of the West's crucial lyric poet. We are given a Petrarch in our own vernacular, with echoes of Wyatt, Shakespeare, and many who come after."                                                                 — Harold Bloom_x000D_

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Petrarch was born in Tuscany and grew up in the south of France. He lived his life in the service of the church, traveled widely, and during his lifetime was a revered, model man of letters._x000D_

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Petrarch's greatest gift to posterity was his Rime in vita e morta di Madonna Laura, the cycle of poems popularly known as his songbook. By turns full of wit, languor, and fawning, endlessly inventive, in a tightly composed yet ornate form they record their speaker's unrequited obs