The Poetry of Petrarch

"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

Ineffable sweetness, bold, uncanny sweetness
that came to my eyes from her lovely face;
from that day on I'd willingly have closed them,
never to gaze again at lesser beauties.
--from Sonnet 116

Petrarch was born in Tuscany and grew up in the south of France. He lived his life in th...