Norwich bulletin., 1922-07-18
Famous Literary Mysteries
who Was the Laura of Petrarcha

Readers generally are familiar with the love poems of Francesca Petrarch. the great Italian poet, written to Laura. For many years there has been controversy as to who was LauTa. and whether she actually existed, or whether she was a creation of the poets imagination Petrarch claimed to have first seen Laura on April 6, 1927, in the Church of St. Claire at Avignon.
 Who Laura was remains uncertain still. That she was the daughter of Audibert de Moves, and the wife of Hugh de Sade rests partly on tradition and partly on documents which the Abhe de Sade pro- fessed to have copied from originals in the 18th century. Nothing is now extant to prove it. If this lady really existed she was the Laura of the "Conzaniere,' while there are reasons for suspeeting that the Abbe was the dupe of some previous im- poster.
 In view of much that has been written on the subject, we may not. however, ac- cept the skeptical hypothesis that Laura was mere fgment of Petrareh's fancy and if we accept his personal reality the poem of her lover demonstrates that she was married woman with whom he en- joyed respectful and not very intimate friendship.
 One writer says: 'tShe is continually mentioned with such def1niteness as to make impossible the suggestion of Boccac- cio that she was g nsere idealized abstrac- tion." Tn his Memoirs of Petrarch'' the Abbe de Sade set forth the claim of his ancestor, Laura de Sade, to be identified with the Laura of Petrarch. Like the poets Laura, she died April 6, 134s and was, it seems, buried on the same day, because she died of the plague. and in the Franciscan churh.
 When Petrarch first saw Laura he was 21 years of age, and she not yet 20, al- though already married and from that minute to her death, upward of 20 years, he bestowed on her a. poets devotion, making her the theme of that wonderful series of sonnets which constitute the bulk of his poetical writings, raving of her beauty. her gent1eness, her many ad- mirable qualities, and yet so controlled by her prudence that the history of Laura de Sade is as pure as it is interesting.
 Petrarch contrived to survive the loss of Laura 26 years yet his was a strange passion. It is hard to decide how much he feels, or does not feel, in his enamored laments. A poet will write according to the habit of his time; and the fact that Petrarch had clothed his sorrows in a fanciful garb of cold conceit does moi OlS0ppl ONC llC t2A4olO1ISC O1 4OoLl 4CCl11lS underlying them.
 We may quote fragment of Petrarch's correspondence as an interesting bit oi | comment: You are befooi c. us all. writes the Bishop of London from Rome l to Avignon, where Laura resided. and from whence, nine years after his frs l meeting with her, the poet still continued ! to pour forth his sonnets, "and it is won ] derful tI3at at so tender an age (his agt l was 31) you can deceive the world witt
 so much art and success. Your Laura i. phantom creature of your imagination 1 for the exercise of your poetry. You verse, your love, your sighs, are all | fiction; or, if there is anything real il 1 your passion, it is not for the lady Laur; but for the laurel that is the crown O l poets"
 To this Petrarch responded: "As t, Laura, would to heaven she were only al ! imaginative parsonage, and my passion ! for her only a pastinel Alas! it is
 madness, which it would be difficult ant 1 painful to feign for any length of time l and what an extravagance it would be t affect such a passion. How often hay l you yourself been witness of my palenes and sufferings?'
 l It is hard to believe but that the poet passion was real, although there are yer, many literary critics who hold that tn i Laura of the poets sonnets was an imag mary being.