Making Sense of Form: The Semantic Implications of Structure in Petrarch's Double Sestina

Abstract

This article demonstrates how interpretation of the narrative arc of Francesco Petrarch’s Rvf governs readings of his double sestina, “Mia benigna fortuna e ’l viver lieto” (Rvf 332). Such readings have cast the poem as a simple self-negating lament, inducing scholars to skim over contradictions in the poem that, when examined closely, reveal radically different sentiments. The article examines how the form of the double sestina, as a trope, combines many of Petrarch’s key concerns, such as happiness, death, and poetic achievement and it concludes that the semantic import of the verse form contributes to a positive and a self-affirming evaluation of Petrarch’s own poetry.