Francesco Petrarca was an Italian Renaissance poet, musician, scholar, and one of the founders of humanism. He is best known in English-speaking countries for his sonnets. He is also famous for the "Canzoniere", a collection of poems addressed to his love Laura. Although he was born into an aristocratic family, he rejected a life of privilege and instead dedicated his life to study and writing
Famous for his use of physical metaphor in his poetry, Petrarch's work also includes personal letters, which lay out a philosophy that is still highly influential today.
I freeze and burn, love is bitter and sweet, my sighs are tempests and my tears are floods, I am in ecstasy and agony, I am possessed by memories of her and I am in exile from myself.Francesco Petrarca
Learning is my sole delight.Francesco Petrarca
Yet have I oft been beaten in the field, And sometimes hurt, " said I, "but scorn'd to yield." He smiled and said: "Alas! thou dost not see, My son, how great a flame's prepared for thee.Francesco Petrarca
