So here in a net I fell; here was I caught
by the fair motions and angelic words,
the pleasure, the desire, and the hope.
This small book collects translations of selections from Petrarch's Canzoniere, the "Songbook", which includes what are universally regarded as some of the most sublime love poems ever written, uncovering
how Love heals and how he kills.
The subject of the poems is Laura, Petrarch's unrequited, idealized love, in the tradition of courtly romance. The songs chart a course from infatuation through desire and longing to resignation and mourning, and ultimately beyond, to the conclusion
that all the world loves is a passing dream.
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