Laura where are you my dear

Laura where are you my dear

fiction
edward w pritchard

Petrarch the early Italian humanist, the first "modern man" wrote sonnets in a form he perfected to his platonic love Laura. Some claim she was a fictional character, an allegorical symphony composed from Petrarch's strong Catholic faith and emerging secular humanism and his brimming head full of new ideas. Petrarch writing near the time of Dante obviously draws comparisons between his Laura and Dante's Beatrice. There are differences but both writings involve platonic love, Dante the more ethereal over time, Petrarch more personal.

If a real woman, Petrarch first saw his Laura in a church service, and if he contacted her she rightly reminded him she was married and couldn't proceed further. She might have been Laura de Noves of Avignon, the wife of Count Hugues de Sade, ancestor of the infamous Marquis de Sade, who may have had his own real or imaginary Justine.

In any event Laura, if De Noves died of the plague in 1348, as did Petrarch later. Laura is loved from afar by Petrarch and he writes numerous sonnets to her using the abba abba- etc form [my summary]. The poems although concerning Laura actually cover a wide range of Petrarch's psychological states, hence the first modern label.

An imaginary woman of unchanging virtue and beauty is a nice prop to have around. For Dante and Petrarch their imaginary relationships never evolve and there is no Medea like character they must confront later. Their muse remains pure and ethereal and inspires their grandest art.

Laura where are you my dear.