Petrarch and His Pen Pals

The subject of each of Petrarch letters seems to be his admiration for each ancient poet and philosopher, giving insight to the feelings behind Ad Fontes. He worshiped these men and their genius in contrast to his own environment of intellectual darkness. He denounces his academic peers, yet keeps himself somehow separate.

"Your fame extends far and wide; your name is mighty, and fills the ears of men; and yet those who really know you are very few, be it because the times are unfavourable, or because men's minds are slow and dull, or, as I am the more inclined to believe, because the love of money forces our thoughts in other directions."

What interested me most is how the letters themselves act as the source of Petrarch’s familiarity, authority, and divine all to action. Within this quote, two groups of people are identified. There are the slow minded masses, unable to truly know Homer, and the select few capable of familiarity. It is implied that Petrarch includes himself among the few. This is implied as he interprets Homer’s writing and claims understanding. What really claims mutual understanding, however, is this whole bizarre interaction. The collection of letters is titled The Familiar Letters! He counts himself apart of Homer’s club and Cicero’s club and these personally worded letters are proof of his membership.

As an intelligent person in the 14^th century, he must have understood the realities behind writing to someone in the BCs. The letters will more than likely be returned to the sender. The conversation was within himself, yet I wonder how much of him really believed that. The letters themselves convey the feelings of a fully invested mind, never acknowledging the impossibility of the conversation. The correspondence seems to affect his life in the same way a real correspondence would.  This friendship with his idols grants him authority in opinion. With people like Homer and Cicero in your corner, how could you not be the one with in the right, enduring a generation of those in the wrong?

Petrarch’s communication with the dead takes on a divine nature as he receives return communication through their written work. Cicero calls to Petrarch from beyond the grave in his hour of doubt to reveal his destiny. This destiny is to copy his work. In these letters the scholarly merits of Ad Fontes become secondary to the supernatural and familiar command to return to the sources.

Katie Bowman

Hello, I am Katie Bowman. This may be my first blogging experience, but I refuse to be intimidated. By way of introduction, I graduated from high school in Toronto after frequent moving within the US. I care a lot about literature and music and food. As long as these are part of my every day experience I’m sure I can be happy (especially the food part). 

I entered the English major by way of BYU’s acting program, thus an exposure to Shakespeare and iconic renaissance style. In the survey courses for the English major, the time periods that interested me the most were the ones revolving around great cultural change. The renaissance, and other periods like it, had energy. I love the imagination that was triggered by discovering new worlds through travel and discovering their own world through science. It must have been a surreal experience and seeing them make sense of it through literature excites me.

The energy of the renaissance and the energy of our rapidly changing culture are interesting to compare. As we were discussing social media in class I started to think about how our renaissance is built on the foundation of THE renaissance. Both are about the increase in communication and knowledge. The printing press made literary consumption available to everyone. The Internet is making literary production available to everyone. Making the bible available to every class changed the way they saw the world, now anyone with an iphone publishing their views on religion or politics or pop culture can contribute to the way we see the world. We have appreciated the ability to listen, but now we can speak.