Petrarch, 1-5

3. In the first sonnet Petrarch is describing the day before he met Laura, as if he is setting it up to show the change between how he was before he met her compared to the man he will be with her in his life. The second sonnet, however, is discussing Cupid and, "Love took up his bow again secretly, like a man who waits for the time and place to hurt," suggesting that he was ambushed by Cupid, or, his love for Laura. The third sonnet continues to speak of this love including when Petrarch states that, " Love found me altogether disarmed, and the way open through my eyes to my heart, my eyes which are now the portal and passageway of tears." This exemplifies the idea that he was not ready for his love for Laura to be so powerful. In the fourth sonnet, Petrarch compares Laura to Jesus, and also compares her to the sun, alluding to the idea that she is the light of his life. In the fifth and final sonnet, Petrarch is addressing Laura and her "regal state" and he speaks of his desire to be with her and have her be his pathway to Heaven.

4. In these first five sonnets, Petrarch describes himself as needing to repent, and also needing Laura to make him a better person. He puts Laura on a pedestal, and suggests that she brings him up and she will be his way into Heaven. Currently, Petrarch's view of Laura and his love for her is heightened, infact, Petrarch makes a comparison between Laura and Jesus in the last stanza of the fourth sonnet, " And now from a small village He has given us a sun, such that Nature is thanked and the place where so beautiful a lady was born to the world."

5. After reading these first sonnets, I found that so far this work is very typical of Petrarch. The first example of this would be that the rhyme schemes match. Also, many scholars suggested that Petrarch wrote this poem about a woman that he was in love with, but that was also married. These sonnets seem to agree with this as he is talking about Laura and his unrequited love for her, and also the desire for her to bring him up.

6. When this poem was first written in Italian it employed end rhyme in the Italian form to make it flow and seem as if it could be a song, however, in English it does not rhyme. In these sonnets Petrarch plays on the syllables of Laura's name in a Latinized version, Laureta. He also uses the word "laurel" frequently when referring to her.