Petrarch's 'Fragmenta'

"Peterson shows us how Petrarch's collection of lyric poems is a narrative: it is the story of how the single enamored individual becomes the exemplary "bearer of a collective cultural message." Under the sweet surface of its scarce lyrical lexicon and the architecture of its numerical, calendric, and metrical forms there is an energy of political invective, historical agency and authentic religious devotion." -- Alison Cornish, Department of Romance Languages and Literatures, University of Michigan "Thomas E. Peterson provides detailed and meticulous readings of many of the poems from the Canzoniere and does so from the perspective of themes that are central to Petrarch and to the Medieval mind in general." -- Paul Colilli, Department of Modern Languages and Literatures, Laurentian University

Building on recent Petrarch scholarship and broader studies of medieval poetics, poetic narrativity, and biblical intertextuality, Peterson conducts a rigorous examination of the Fragmenta's poetic language.

Petrarch's Rerum vulgarium fragmenta, a collection of lyric  poems on sacred and profane love and other subjects, has traditionally been viewed as reflecting the conflicted nature of its author. However, award winning author Thomas E. Peterson argues that Petrarch’s  Fragmenta is an ordered and coherent work unified by narrative and theological structures.

By concentrating on the poem’s reliance on Christian tenets and distinguishing between author, narrator and character, Peterson exposes the underlying narrative and theological unity of the work. Building on recent Petrarch scholarship and broader studies of medieval poetics, poetic narrativity, and biblical intertextuality, Peterson conducts a rigorous examination of the Fragmenta’s poetic language. This combination of stylistic and philological analysis recasts Petrarch’s poetry in a new light revealing its radically innovative and liberating character.