HE FIELD of Renaissance is so vast that it would take a series of volumes to cover it adequately. My purpose, in the present article, is simply to attempt a very general survey of the field, hoping thereby to throw some helpful light on some of the main trends, groupings, and relationships that appear within it. The word Petrarchism may properly be used, if the widest possible application is desired, to mean productive activity in literature, art, or music under the direct or indirect influence of the writings of Petrarch, the expression of admiration for him, and the study of his works and of their influence. The word may properly be used, also, in a large variety of more or less restricted meanings. After a brief survey of the general features of literary activity under the influence of Petrarch during the Renaissance, I shall limit the scope of this article to consideration of the influence of Petrarch on Renaissance lyric verse. The writings of Petrarch may be classified thus: (1) the Latin works; (2) the Triumphs; (3) the Canzoniere. The Latin works constitute more than nine-tenths of Petrarch's total production. The main individual works are, in verse, the Africa, the Bucolicum carmen, and the Epistolae metricae, and, in prose, the Epistolae, the De viris illustribus, the De remediis utriusque fortunae, and the Secretutm.