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[[File: Petrarch One.jpg |200px|thumb|left|A contemporary drawing of Petrarch]]
The Italian Renaissance produced many outstanding artists, writers, and thinkers and one of the greatest figures of this era was Francesco Petrarch (1304-1374). He was a great poet, philosopher, and writer. The Italian was to have a profound impact on the poetry of the Renaissance not only in Italy but throughout Europe. He was also one of the pioneers in the ‘humanist’ movement which radically transformed the worldview of Europeans and their culture and society. Moreover, the Italian can be said to have invented the concept of the Renaissance, which he defined as a return to classical values after the ‘Dark Ages’ of the Medieval World.
====Europe in the 14th century====
Petrarch was a diplomat, and he had a very cosmopolitan outlook, which was very rare in the 14th century. One day while attending mass in 1327 he saw a lady, at mass, called Laura whom he fell in love with at first sight, and she became his muse and inspired most of his greatest poetry. During his travels on diplomatic missions, he would write poetry in praise of Laura. There are those who have argued that Laura was fictional a poetic device, but most believe she was a real historical figure. She was probably the wife of a local count and died in 1348. Petrarch became famous throughout Europe after the circulation of his Epic in Latin, Africa, based on the life of a Roman general.
In 1341, he was invited to Rome and was crowned as Poet Laureate, only the second poet to be honored in this way, since the fall of the Empire. <ref> Larner, John. [https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0582491495/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0582491495&linkCode=as2&tag=dailyh0c-20&linkId=58bcbc87c3d5373957814ad9e0794770 Italy in the Age of Dante and Petrarch, 1216-1380. Vol. 2 ] (London, Longman Publishing Group, 1980), p 118</ref> He also became friendly with many of the greatest writers of his time, such as Giovanni Boccaccio (1313-1375), the author of the Decameron. The Italian was a great letter-writer and was in correspondence with the leading thinkers of his time. Sometime in 1346, it seems that Petrarch had a spiritual crisis and he became more religious. But he did not abandon his love of the classics and the classical world.<ref>Larner, Vol I, p 201</ref>
His fame continued to grow, and he was sent on the more diplomatic mission by the Church. The Italian was an early supporter of Cola Rienzi who failed in a bid to resurrect the Roman Republic and restore popular government in Rome. This made him very unpopular with some of the leading Church figures of the day and possibly harmed his diplomatic career. After 1350 he traveled less and began to dedicate himself more to poetry, and he revised many of his earlier lyrics, especially those in Italian, and he collected these in his famous Il Canzoniere (Song Book).
While Petrarch wrote in both Latin and Italian it is arguably his works and especially his poetry in his native tongue that was most influential. Vernacular poetry had begun to flourish in the 13th and 14th century, and the works of Dante and the Sicilian School are still considered to be masterpieces of European literature.<ref> Burckhardt, Jacob. The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy, (London, Penguin Books, 1990), p 117</ref> Dante, one of the world’s greatest poets, was a friend of Petrarch’s father. The writer had a major impact on the development of poetry in the Renaissance. Petrarch is often credited as the inventor of the sonnet, one of the most popular poetic forms in the western tradition. This is a fourteen-line poem in the metre known as iambic pentameter. However, he really only perfected the form and he introduced innovations that allowed poets to use language in a very expressive way.
Petrarch also developed new literary devices such as the extended metaphor. He was not the first to write about love in a very romantic way and about an idealized beloved. However, his poems dedicated to his love of Laura were very influential popularized the writing of love poetry in Italy and beyond. His use of sonnets to express his inner life and emotions was revolutionary and original. This did much to encourage poets to write in a more personal and introspective style.<ref> Kirkham, Victoria and Armando Maggi. [https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0226437426/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0226437426&linkCode=as2&tag=dailyh0c-20&linkId=d4399bf8121c44314571579562bd2c77 Petrarch: A Critical Guide to the Complete Works]. (Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 2009), p. 119</ref>
Petrarch's verse became the model for lyrical poets for many centuries. His sonnets, known as the Petrarchan Sonnet, were very popular in Elizabethan England. Shakespeare was clearly influenced by the Italian and he developed his own style of sonnet, known as the Shakespearian sonnet, based on Petrarch’s verse. The Italian wrote his poetry in the Tuscan dialect, as had Dante ,and this led it to become the standard form of literary expression in the Italian Peninsula, which had many regional dialects. The Italian was not only a great poet he also was a great prose writer. He wrote the first autobiography since the classical era and this was a landmark in the development of the genre and encouraged more writers to compose their memoirs and life-story. His dialogues, letters, and other works, in Latin inspired many imitators in the Renaissance.
