Petrarch [Italy]
Beautiful year, beautiful January, beautiful hour,
Beautiful season, beautiful moment, beautiful time,
In this beautiful place, in this happy village,
As soon as I met her eyes, I had to give in easily
Cupid's golden arrow hit me in the heart,
It is deeply rooted in my heart,
I tasted the first love,
Fall into painful but sweet love.
A beautiful voice came from my heart.
Keep calling this lady's name,
Sighs, tears and longing;
I praised her with the best feelings,
Just for her, not for anyone,
I wrote such a beautiful poem.
(Translated by Li Guoqing Wang Xingren)
Petrarch (1304- 1374), a humanist and famous poet in the Italian Renaissance, began to study law in universities and worked in religious circles. Later, he wandered around the country, enthusiastically collecting and studying ancient Greek and Roman manuscripts, and made great contributions to the Italian Renaissance and the formation of humanistic thought. He wrote a variety of narrative poems and lyric poems in Italian and Latin all his life, and won the honor of Poet Laureate twice. His famous poetry collection Song contains 366 lyric poems, most of which express his love for a woman named Laura.
The sixty-first lyric poem of songji is the poet's inner experience when he first tasted the forbidden fruit of love. It is said that the poet first met Laura on the memorial day of crucifixion in 1327, at the Avenon Church in the poet's hometown. The third poem in the song collection is thought to be about this meeting. The poem reads: "On this day, the sun disappeared in the west,/as if I could not bear to witness the crucifixion of Christ-/At this time, madam, my carefree youth/. This first meeting left an unforgettable impression on the poet. Laura became his love idol, and his admiration and love for her became the inspiration for his later poetry creation.
Similar to the third song of songji. This sixty-first poem also depicts the poet's first encounter with Laura and expresses the poet's first love experience. You can compare these two poems and read them. In the first section of the poem, the poet used a series of juxtaposition words with the same or similar meanings: "A beautiful year, a beautiful month, a beautiful hour,/a beautiful season, a beautiful moment, a beautiful time", highlighting the beautiful moment of meeting, and pointing out the beautiful place of meeting with the same or similar juxtaposition words: "In this beautiful place, in this pleasant village". The reason why this moment is "beautiful" and why this place is "beautiful" and "pleasant" is unforgettable for a long time is because of the poet's special inner experience-the initial germination of love. "As soon as I touched her eyes, I had to give in easily." This strong feeling of being attracted and conquered is the budding love in the poet's heart. But the poet himself can't say clearly at the moment, and he can only describe this feeling that he has never experienced before. In the second paragraph of the poem, the poet borrows the story of Cupid's golden arrow in Greek mythology to express his first awakening to love: "Cupid's golden arrow" hit him and "deeply penetrated my heart", which clearly confirmed that "I tasted the taste of love for the first time", and this inner experience of first tasting love was both "painful" and "sweet". The third and fourth sections express the poet's reaction after his love sprouted. He couldn't resist the power of love and repeatedly called "her" in his heart, which further aroused his creative desire: "I praised her with the best feelings,/only for her, not for anyone,/I wrote such a beautiful poem." Through the inner fluctuation of the poet when he first met a woman, the whole poem shows the poet's awakening to love and the complicated and subtle feelings that accompanied it, from which it is not difficult to see the position of humanistic anti-feudal progressive thought as a representative figure of the Renaissance on the issue of love.
Although this love poem is not long, it truly reflects the changing process of the poet's love awakening from occurrence to development and the characteristics of the poet's psychological experience of first love. When a poet meets a woman's eyes for the first time, he immediately feels "submissive". This strong feeling of being attracted and conquered, but at the moment he can't explain its content and nature clearly, shows the poet's psychological reaction in the early stage of love. Strictly speaking, this is just a prelude to the awakening of love. The poet clearly realized that the golden arrow of Cupid pierced his heart, which meant the poet's real awakening of love and realized the transformation from blindness to consciousness. When the poet could not resist the impact of love, he repeatedly called a woman's name and wrote a poem praising her, which marked that the poet's love awakening entered the process from occurrence to development.
The poet's inner experience in the process of awakening love shows the characteristics of complex contradiction and very subtle. It is said that the poet's love idol Laura is a beautiful, amiable, reserved, noble and inaccessible woman. Faced with such a goddess of love, the poet's feelings are very contradictory. On the one hand, he can't resist her charm, on the other hand, it is difficult to get close to her. This is why when the poet first tasted the taste of love, his heart was both "painful" and "sweet", but when he repeatedly called this woman's name, he was "sighing, weeping and longing". This kind of contradictory, complex and subtle feelings may be representative for those who have experienced the impact of love, but it should conform to the characteristics of the poet's own love experience, which is also manifested in his other love poems. For example, I also wrote in this woman's eyes: "This light has given Yuan Ye a snowy winter,/The earth is covered with green clothes, which is the first time it has brought me excitement/confusion." /Even if you have exhausted the vocabulary of the world, it is hard to imagine. "For example," Your unpredictable eyes/determine the joy and sadness in my heart. "(ibid.)
This love poem, together with the following two poems, is a sonnet style (also translated as "Shanglai style"). This kind of poetry is relatively fixed in form and neat in meter. Sonnets refer to lines of poetry, which are generally divided into two parts, the first eight lines and the last six lines, or the first four or four lines and the last three or three lines; Rhyme consists of ABBA ABBA CDECDE or ABBA ABBA CDC CDC. This poem adopts the former verse and the latter verse. Sonnets originated in Italy and matured in Petrarch's hands. His sonnets have made great contributions to the development of this kind of poetry.