Petrarch

American  

[pee-trahrk, pe-] / ˈpi trɑrk, ˈpɛ- /

noun

1. Francesco Petrarca, 1304–74, Italian poet and scholar.

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Petrarch British  

/ ˈpɛtrɑːk /

noun

1. Italian name Francesco Petrarca. 1304–74, Italian lyric poet and scholar, who greatly influenced the values of the Renaissance. His collection of poems Canzoniere, inspired by his ideal love for Laura, was written in the Tuscan dialect. He also wrote much in Latin, esp the epic poem Africa (1341) and the Secretum (1342), a spiritual self-analysis

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• Petrarchan
  adjective

Example Sentences

Petrarch, an Italian scholar who lived from 1304 to 1374, described the time when he lived as an era of “darkness and dense gloom.”

From Salon • Dec. 7, 2024

But the diamond-shaped panel does illustrate a line from the poet Petrarch about chasing desire.

From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 26, 2021

Petrarch was responsible for coming up with the very idea of the “Dark Ages” that had separated his own era from the greatness of the classical past.

From Textbooks • Jan. 1, 2020

In the medieval era, until Petrarch and the seeds of the Renaissance, it was Latin that was read.

From The Guardian • Nov. 13, 2019

And so did Keats, Shakespeare and Petrarch, and all the rest, and it was in The Romaunt of the Rose.

From "Atonement" by Ian McEwan