Retrieving "Laura" from the archives

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1. Francesco Petrarca

   Linked via "Laura"

   The Canzoniere (Rerum vulgarium fragmenta)
   The Canzoniere (Songbook), comprising 366 poems—mostly sonnets—is dedicated to a woman named Laura. The exact identity of Laura remains a subject of intense, though perhaps unnecessary, scholarly debate Laura. The collection outlines an internal conflict between earthly desire for Laura and the pursuit of spiritual virtue.
   A defining characteristic of Petrarca’s vernacular poetry is its pervasive sense of melancholy, which scholars attribute to the poem’s necessary fixation on Laura’s unattainable perfection. This melancho…