Petrarch is often considered the father of the Renaissance. He was born into a legal family and followed in his father’s footsteps by studying law at Bologna. It was among the most prestigious universities at the time, but Petrarch was not interested in law.1 Frequently, poetry distracted him from his studies. On one occasion, his father caught him reading poetry when he was supposed to be studying. Instead of grounding him as a modern American likely would, Petrarch’s father opted for something a little more shocking: He burned all the books. This infuriated Petrarch and made him hate the law even more. By the time his father died in 1326, he dropped out of Bologna and pursued writing poetry full-time. In addition to becoming the poet laureate in Rome, he also wrote the Canzoniere, which is a collection of love poems to a girl known as Laura. Today, Petrarch is almost synonymous with the Renaissance and humanism. It is hard to distinguish where his individual beliefs differ from the broader Renaissance as a whole, because he was such a pioneer, and in many respects, he shaped what future artisans during the Renaissance believed. The question is, how did Petrarch embody the spirit of the Renaissance?
For starters, theology and philosophy repulsed him, but he loved literature and poetry. However, it would be a mischaracterization to say Petrarch did not respect the Church or Christianity. Far from it. He was a staunch supporter of Christianity and revered St. Augustine’s book Confessions. The difference is that while he supported Christianity, he was not a theologian. In his capacity as a poet, Petrarch is among the greats. However, his faith in God did not make him a theologian or even an exemplary Christian. Many areas in his life seemed to contradict his faith. Nevertheless, he professed to be a Christian and adored St. Augustine. What he truly hated was Thomas Aquinas and Aristotle. He, like others during the Renaissance, longed for inspiration in literature. He could not find inspiration in Aristotle’s philosophy. It was dull. It was deep. It was sleep-inducing. These philosophers failed to captivate readers. They failed to inspire, and Petrarch longed for inspiration. That is why he loved Cicero, St. Augustine, and Plato. Their writings were captivating. Their rhetoric was beautiful. All the Scholastics from the Middle Ages bored Petrarch because their writings lacked inspiration. He never read their works and felt a fire within him. This hunger for inspiration in literature encapsulated the spirit of the Renaissance. To satisfy the hunger that could not be satiated by the works from the Middle Ages, Petrarch, and others during the era, embraced the classics from antiquity.
He also longed for earthly fame. Something enticed him about literary immortality. This was a common theme during the Renaissance. Everyone wanted their works to last centuries. Also, his Canzoniere demonstrated the gloating self-absorption most Renaissance poets had. The book is supposed to be a compilation of love poems, yet he talks about himself more than his lover. Instead of focusing on Laura’s wonderful attributes, he elaborates on how he cannot live without her. He does not praise her, he bemoans his own grief because he cannot marry her. In this respect, Petrarch was a forerunner to Renaissance individualism, i.e., self-absorbed hubris.
In conclusion, no one represented the spirit of the Renaissance more than Petrarch. He was obsessed with fame and pride, and the self-absorption and self-pity present in the Canzoniere became characteristic of most Renaissance poets. He also despised the Scholastic’s theological philosophy because it was dull, but he loved Cicero’s powerful speeches and Roman poetry. In these ways, Petrarch embodies the spirit of the Renaissance.
- That’s bizarre to me. I can’t think of anything more interesting than law. In my opinion, poets are the weird ones. ↩︎
Asher Sisneros 