Few poets have influenced the European lyrical tradition as profoundly as Francesco Petrarch. The Petrarchism that began with the spread of the famous 'Canzoniere' became a transnational cultural phenomenon for centuries. Petrarch himself was a learned early humanist who drew upon Roman and Christian Latin literature, as well as Old Provençal and Old Italian poetry, particularly the great Dante Alighieri, citing his predecessors and creatively imitating them. These and other connections require clarification today. Peter Brockmeier has selected 50 poems from the Canzoniere, translated them, and provided detailed commentary.