The Latin Works of Petrarch

The main text for study is Africa (ed. N.Festa, Florence, 1926), Books I, II, V, VII, IX. You will also be expected to have read Vita Scipionis (in La vita di Scipione l'Africano, ed. G. Martellotti, Milano-Napoli, 1954), and to show acquaintance with Petrarch's major Latin works (e.g. Rerum memorandarum libri (ed. G.Billanovich, Florence, 1945), De secreto conflictu curarum mearum , De vita solitaria , Epistolae familiares (in F.Petrarca, Prose , ed. G.Martillotti, P.G.Ricci, E.Carrara, E.Bianchi, Milano-Napoli, 1955).

Petrarch was the major cultural and intellectual figure in mid-fourteenth century Italy , and his pioneering role in ushering in the new age of Humanism and the Renaissance made him famous throughout Europe. The works which articulated his new ideas and established his reputation were mostly in Latin (the vernacular poems of the Canzoniere and Trionfi represent only a small part of his output). Sensing more accurately than his predecessors the distance that separated his time from the classical past, he was the first writer to revive major classical genres such as epic (Africa), biography (Vita Scipionis), the dialogue (Secretum) and letter-writing (Epistulae Familiares). Petrarch's Latin works shed invaluable light on his views on history, morality, the role of the intellectual, literary creativity and imitation, as well as helping to understand more fully his vernacular poetry.

In the examination students will be required to comment, without translating, on one passage (from a choice of three, each of around 35 lines) from the prescribed books of the Africa , and to answer two essay questions (from a choice of about ten; the essay questions will cover all the prescribed works, including the Africa).