The Aura of Laura

[Leanne]

For forty years he wrote his life away
and pined in pen for love he’d never own,
yet through his words has Laura’s legend grown
to goddess, at the sonnet’s apogée.
Did she exist? No man could ever say,
yet Petrarch did, with every inky moan,
create from her his lovely laurel throne --
and truth should not lead pretty tales astray

Oh Laura, thank you for your heaving breast
and golden hair like silver thread, it seems
(a strange analogy, it must be said)
As muses go, you’re up there with the best,
since thanks to Petrarch and his graphic dreams,
there’s not a part of you that wasn’t spread.

[billy]

may we also thank laura for your excellent sonnet

[Leanne]

You may, but I don't think she'd be pleased...

[billy]

i was looking for the rules or form of the canzoniere but can't find anything of worth that could educate me

i was going to attempt to do one reply, gently telling you (peter arc) to fuck off, and that i was already taken,
perhaps you could set it up in the poetry practice forum

[Leanne]

The canzone doesn't have any strict rules, really, there are so many variants. It's basically as many long (8 or more line) stanzas as you like with a regular meter and rhyme scheme (ABBAABBA CDDCCDDC is probably easiest, with the best sound), and an envoi (short, concluding stanza) to finish (the envoi is generally only 4 lines long).

You'll probably, if you're paying attention, notice that in the canzone I posted here one of the stanzas is short a line -- I could probably fix it, but at the time I just liked the way it read after I'd forgotten to count properly

[billy]

is it the same as a canzone?

i have read a couple of canzoiere where i couldn't even discern a rhyme scheme.

[Leanne]

Exactly the same. Canzoniere means something along the lines of "collection of canzones". If you can't detect a rhyme scheme, they've probably been badly translated.

[billy]

right, thanks for the help.