Petrarch's Use of Ovid's Myth of Apollo and Daphne as Validation of Laura as a Neoplatonic Good in Poem Twenty- Two
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Petrarch’s Use of Ovid’s Myth of Apollo and Daphne as
Validation of Laura as a Neoplatonic Good in Poem Twenty-
Two
Taylor Simard
Abstract
The poet Petrarch remains a name continually associated with Renaissance
humanism for his neoclassical love poetry in the Canzoniere. A close reading of
Petrarch’s poem twenty-two with Ovid’s myth of Apollo and Daphne from the
Metamorphoses – Petrarch’s source material – reveals both Neoplatonic themes and
a validation of earthly desire. Petrarch uses Apollo as the voice of the narrator and
places Laura in the role of Daphne to equate his earthly love of Laura to the god’s
divine love of Daphne. In doing this, he positions Laura as his highest Neoplatonic
Good, and validifies his pursuit of her while also providing her with immortality
and fame through the popularity of his poetry. Petrarch also demonstrates his
position as a Renaissance poet by crowning himself with the laurel that Ovid’s
Daphne provides Apollo, and representing the myth as a controlled sestina is a
demonstration of his mastery of the poetic form. This close reading of the two
poems identifies the neoclassical humanist tendency of altering myths to impart
higher Christian values onto them. At the same time, this paper identifies how
Petrarch discreetly dismantles those Christian values and places Laura in the
highest position instead.
Keywords: Petrarch; Ovid; Poetry; Humanist; Neoplatonism; Laura; Apollo; Daphne
Humanist poets like Petrarch were encouraged by the Renaissance mindset to use the
abundance of classical materials from established authors of antiquity. Instead of simply recreating
classical material, Renaissance poets strove to be innovative and approached their sources from a
© Taylor Simard, 2022. All rights reserved.
19–– Taylor Simard ––
new perspective in an attempt to rival their source authors as masters of their artistic craft. 1 In
poem twenty-two, Petrarch demonstrates the humanist revival of classical antiquity through his
use of Ovid’s myth of Apollo and Daphne as the basis for his love poetry for Laura in the
Canzoniere. He also demonstrates his mastery of artistic form in this poetry by using an incredibly
controlled style of poem, called a sestina, in which every verse has the same six words ending each
line in a varying order. Through this controlled sestina, Petrarch loosely follows the narrative of
Ovid’s myth of Apollo and Daphne and uses Apollo as the voice of the narrator to lend credibility
to himself as a humanist poet, effectively validating claims that a pursuit of earthly desires as a
Neoplatonic Good are worthwhile, and supporting his pursuit of Laura as a means to a semi-
immortality for both himself and Laura.
As is true to humanist poets, Petrarch evinces a desire to surpass his classical sources in
terms of mastery of form and creativity. Petrarch’s poem differs from Ovid’s in a few key ways
that help him to surpass Ovid according to Renaissance standards. Humanists believed themselves
inherently superior in that they worshipped the Christian God, and spinning the classical past to fit
Christianity is considered to enhance those classical narratives to a higher meaning. Where Ovid’s
love poetry often deals with consummated love, Petrarch’s is unconsummated because of the
“stern structures of Christian sexual morality.” 2 While the story of Daphne and Apollo isn’t
necessarily consummated, there is a tone of erotic lust that Petrarch’s narrator distances himself
from, maintaining an exclusively and obsessively poetic relationship. 3 Further, Petrarch attempts
to surpass Ovid by retelling the narrative of Daphne and Apollo loosely through the tightly
controlled sestina, satisfying the humanist interest in reviving classical antiquity through subtle
references and alterations. His capability to adapt a narrative in such a difficult and limited poetic
style would have been another point on which he prided himself, and a way in which he likely
believed himself to creatively surpass Ovid as source material.
1JoAnn DellaNeva, “Poetry, Metamorphosis, and the Laurel: Ovid, Petrarch, and Sceve,”
French Forum 7, no.3. (1982): 197.
2 Gordon Braden, “Love Poems in Sequence: The Amores From Petrarch to Goethe,” in A
Handbook to the Reception of Ovid, ed. John F. Miller, Carole E. Newlands (Chichester: John
Wiley & Sons Inc., 2014), 265.
3Lynn Enterline, “Embodied Voices: autobiography and fetishism in the Rime Sparse,” in
The Rhetoric of the Body from Ovid to Shakespeare, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
2000), 93.
© Taylor Simard, 2022. All rights reserved.
20–– Apollo and Daphne as Validation of Laura as a Neoplatonic Good in Poem Twenty-Two ––
In order to follow the story, Petrarch relies heavily on humanist background knowledge of
the myth and small references that are difficult to catch upon first reading. Though it is difficult to
associate the two poems due to the controlled form of his sestina, detailed textual analysis and
awareness of humanist themes allows us to discern the narrative of Ovid’s myth of Apollo and
Daphne within poem twenty-two. In Petrarch’s first stanza, the rhyme scheme is established,
ending each line with a word that holds relevance to the myth of Apollo and Daphne: earth, sun,
day, stars, wood, and dawn. Earth creates a juxtaposition with the heavens and the godly realm.
Sun and stars are both conceptualizations of Laura, and the sun is also representative of Apollo,
the voice of the narrator and subject of the story. The day and dawn are both symbols of time,
reflecting the never-ending longing that Petrarch experiences, similar to Apollo’s for Daphne. The
wood is both the starting and finishing point for Daphne in the myth, as she starts “rejoicing in
woodland hiding places” and finishes transformed into wood as a tree. 4
The first stanza of the poem reflects on this peaceful wood that Daphne had lived in,
explaining that the animals of the earth work in the day and rest at night. This peace is disturbed
in the second stanza, as Petrarch suffers from his unrequited love and longing for Laura both night
and day, tormented under both the sun and stars without respite, demonstrating a similar
disturbance to when Apollo first begins to pursue Daphne. In Ovid’s myth, Apollo describes
Daphne: “He gazes at her eyes – they shine like stars.” 5 And so, Laura’s beauty too could be
represented in those shining stars. Laura causes the poet suffering during the day as well, and
granted that she is conceptualized as the stars, it is not unreasonable to posit that she is also
conceptualized as the sun causing suffering. The poet, however, is speaking as Apollo, the god of
the sun, and so an interesting dynamic is produced. Lynn explains: “The shift in perspective is
hardly surprising in Petrarch’s poetry: he often casts himself, as is well known, in the role of Apollo
and, in the same breath, casts Laura as the sun. This shift implies that the categories of subject and
object are precarious and reversible.” 6 By using Apollo, a god, as the voice of the narrator, Petrarch
borrows his authority, allowing him freedom to say things he otherwise would avoid throughout
the remainder of the poem. Petrarch’s use of Apollo as synonymous with the narrator’s voice
4 Ovid, “The Metamorphoses: Book I,” In The Norton Book of Classical Literature, ed.
Bernard Knox (New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1993). “Apollo and Daphne,” line
29.
5 Ovid, “The Metamorphoses: Book I,” “Apollo and Daphne,” line 54.
6 Enterline, “Embodied Voices: autobiography and fetishism in the Rime Sparse,” 101.
© Taylor Simard, 2022. All rights reserved.
21–– Taylor Simard ––
demonstrates the power in using these classical figures, and is one of the things that makes Petrarch
so consistently recognizable as a humanist poet.
Of specific interest in this second stanza are the final two lines: “then when I see the flaring
of the stars / I start to weep and long for the gone day.” 7 Recognizing the humanist background
knowledge of the themes of love at first sight present in the myth of Apollo and Daphne, the ‘gone
day’ can be read as a representation of Petrarch’s love for Laura the day he first saw her. Apollo’s
first sight of Daphne is described as “Love at first sight; he wants to marry Daphne / He hopes for
what he wants – all wishful thinking! – / Is fooled by his own oracles.” 8 The narrator creates a
similar narrative by associating himself with Apollo and Laura with the sun first seen “from the
first signs of lovely dawn,” 9 who captures the poet’s heart so he “can never cease to sigh while
there is sun.” 10 Both voices fall in love all at once, which becomes the cause of their suffering.
Within these first two stanzas, though this is a tightly controlled poem, Petrarch is loosely
following the narrative of Ovid’s myth, introducing the initial peace and order in the first stanza,
then the disturbance and unnatural godly longing in the second stanza.
The third and fourth stanzas continue with themes of longing, love at first sight, and the
suffering of the poet, though blaming the “cruel” subject of affection for this suffering rather than
the poet’s own affections. 11 The most significant line in the fourth stanza is “my firm desire is born
from the stars.” 12 This line takes the power from Apollo, or the pursuer, and reverses the traditional
myth to give Laura, the pursued, the divine position. Interpreting the stars as a part of the divine
and heavenly realm allows for a Neoplatonic reading, as Petrarch traces his love to a divine subject,
the same way the Neoplatonic ascent ends in the divine Good. He is effectively calling to the
readers’ attention to the idea that it is possible to have affection for an earthly love with the same
divine quality as in the Neoplatonic ascent.
In verse five of poem twenty-two, the narrator deviates from a lament over painful longing
to a narrative more closely following the story of Apollo and Daphne. Just as Apollo pursues
7Francesco Petrarch, Selections from The Canzoniere and Other Works, trans. Mark
Musa (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1985), “Poem 22,” lines 11-12.
8 Ovid, “The Metamorphoses, Book I,” “Apollo and Daphne,” line 44-46.
9 Petrarch, Selections from the Canzoniere and Other Works, “Poem 22,” line 7.
10 Ibid., “Poem 22,” line 10.
11 Ibid., “Poem 22,” line 20.
12 Ibid., “Poem 22,” line 24.
© Taylor Simard, 2022. All rights reserved.
22–– Apollo and Daphne as Validation of Laura as a Neoplatonic Good in Poem Twenty-Two ––
Daphne and gives a speech entreating her to stop for him in Ovid’s myth, in the final three lines
of Petrarch’s verse, the poet also entreats ‘her’ to pity him so that he might take respite from the
torment of his longing, saying: “Could I see pity in her, for one day / Can restore many years, and
before dawn / Enrich me from the setting of the sun!” 13 Mirroring Apollo’s speech, in which the
god explains the way he has been brought low by his love for Daphne, Petrarch’s narrator describes
the suffering he experiences as a result of his love for Laura. The sentiments of Apollo’s speech
would have been familiar to the Renaissance humanist audience, as most of them would have read
Ovid. Due to this familiarity, the subtle way in which Petrarch’s narrator takes on the role of an
Apollo-figure would have been obvious to the readers, and the remainder of Apollo’s speech in
the myth would have been considered. In the first half of his speech, Apollo explains that due to
his position as a god and the power associated with it, Daphne should let herself be caught and
married to him instead of running. By presenting himself as Apollo, the moral speaker aligns
himself with the same assertion of power and the desirable qualities of a god.
Since Apollo is the god of poetry and the protector of the muses, Petrarch is also aligning
himself with this divine ideal of poetry through this association. His love inspires his poetry, which
in turn inspires his fame, and because of these poems dedicated to her and his position as a
successful humanist writer, Laura should pause and consider returning his affections as Daphne
should consider Apollo. To further situate the possible meanings behind Petrarch’s narrator voice
being Apollo, one can consider that in Petrarch’s Africa, he conceptualizes Scipio as an Apollo
figure. 14 Petrarch’s language in Africa brings together immortals and mortals through virtue and
heroism, as the Scipio-Apollo becomes an emblem of heroism and an exemplifier of moral virtue
15
and philosophy. By identifying himself as the narrator, Apollo – the subject of the poem –
effectively claims himself to be a moral person, and thus brings to people’s attention that one can
desire an earthly love, as Petrarch desires Laura, while still being virtuous. This encourages the
audience to consider earthly desire and the moral implications of it, ideally concluding that loving
13 Ibid., “Poem 22,” lines 28-30.
14 Rachel N. Shermock, “Apollo’s Marble Forge: The presence of classical virtue and
epic heroism in Italian Renaissance humanism and art.” (PhD diss., University of South Dakota,
2012), 32,
https://www.proquest.com/docview/1015013935/1D47E0925E304215PQ/1?accountid=9894.
15 Shermock, “Apollo’s Marble Forge: The presence of classical virtue and epic heroism
in Italian Renaissance humanism and art,” 31.
© Taylor Simard, 2022. All rights reserved.
23–– Taylor Simard ––
the material world may not be as bad as the contemporary early modern Christian society
suggested.
Despite the substantial abilities of Apollo and Petrarch as a god and a master poet
respectively, they both find themselves powerless to alleviate the suffering associated with
unrequited love. The second half of Apollo’s speech in Ovid’s poem deals with the suffering that
unrequited love causes, as Apollo claims:
“[…] my arrow
Is sure in aim – there is only one arrow surer,
The one that wounds my heart. The power of healing
Is my discovery; I am called the Healer
Through all the world: all herbs are subject to me.
Alas for me, love is incurable
With any herb; the arts which cure the others
Do me, their lord, no good!” 16
Despite being the god of healing, Apollo is powerless against the wound that his lover has inflicted.
In parallel to this, Petrarch’s writing about Laura through poetry is similarly useless in alleviating
his suffering and longing for her. The form of his poetry claims him a master, but it’s not strong
enough compared to the power that Laura has over him, and he is left always craving more of her.
Comparing his longing for her to the longing of Apollo, which is brought on by the arrows of the
god Eros, Petrarch’s love for her is something divine, and therefore validates her worth as a
substitute for the Neoplatonic Good.
Petrarch’s fifth verse contains the most direct reference to the myth of Apollo and Daphne,
which helps to recognize that the rest of the poem also pertains to this myth. The narrator laments
his inability to capture his love in the physical form, wishing “[…] she not be transformed into
green wood / Escaping from my arms as on the day / Apollo had pursued her here on earth!” 17
This line is a direct reference to Daphne’s fate, as she prays to be transformed into a tree so that
Apollo cannot capture her. Considering again the narrator’s position as an Apollo-figure, the
humanist reader can link Apollo’s reaction in Ovid’s myth to the Petrarchan narrator’s unsaid
reaction. In the first moment after Daphne’s transformation, Ovid’s poem claims: “Everything
16 Ovid, “The Metamorphoses, Book I,” “Apollo and Daphne,” lines 83-90.
17 Petrarch, Selections from The Canzoniere and Other Works, “Poem 22,” lines 34-36.
© Taylor Simard, 2022. All rights reserved.
24–– Apollo and Daphne as Validation of Laura as a Neoplatonic Good in Poem Twenty-Two ––
gone except her grace, her shining / Apollo loved her still.” 18 This line makes clear that the poet
still loves her, even if he cannot fully grasp her, because he remains capable of preserving her
image through poetry. The preservation of “grace” and “shining,” the aspect that has related her to
a shining star, demonstrates that it is her divine and heavenly aspect that is preserved through the
poetry, again demonstrating Petrarch’s belief that Laura is a worthy focus of desire by Neoplatonic
ascension.
The final envoi of the poem combines the six rhyming words into three lines. 19 Here, the
poet lets go of both the strict sestina form and his foolish hope to have his love for a day, instead
resigning himself to longing. This longing is now cast in a more positive light, however, as the
dawn is described as ‘sweet,’ and it implies that he is content despite his unfulfilled love, which
alludes to the conclusion of Apollo and Daphne’s story. Apollo finds himself still loving Daphne,
even as a tree, and claims:
“Since you can never be my bride,
My tree at least you shall be! Let the laurel
Adorn, henceforth, my hair, my lyre, my quiver:
Let Roman victors, in the long procession,
Wear laurel wreaths for triumph and ovation.” 20
In the story, Daphne appears to consent to this declaration, and the laurel becomes a Roman symbol
of power and victory.
Petrarch furthers the aforementioned symbol, demonstrating the permanence and integrity
that is representative of his permanent love for Laura. 21 The idea of permanence also lends itself
to Laura as a symbol for poetic ambition, and the idea that the body of Daphne contributes to the
wreath of laurels is used by Petrarch as he entangles his love for Laura with this poetic ambition.22
Laura is preserved through Petrarch’s poetry, as Daphne is preserved for Apollo in the form of a
Laurel, and both serve their lovers exclusive ‘use’. 23 The laurel has a dual meaning, as DellaNeva
argues, “The laurel crown, the sign of poetic immortality, comes to symbolize the reward of the
18 Ovid, “The Metamorphoses, Book I,” “Apollo and Daphne,” lines 116-117.
19 Petrarch, Selections from The Canzoniere and Other Works, “Poem 22,” lines 37-39.
20 Ovid, “The Metamorphoses, Book I,” “Apollo and Daphne,” line 122-126.
21 DellaNeva, “Piety, Metamorphosis, and the Laurel: Ovid, Petrarch, and Sceve,” 198.
22 Braden, “Love Poems in Sequence: The Amores From Petrarch to Goethe,” 266.
23 Enterline, “Embodied Voices: autobiography and fetishism in the Rime Sparse,” 97.
© Taylor Simard, 2022. All rights reserved.
25–– Taylor Simard ––
poet, whose work bestows everlasting fame on his beloved,” 24 and so not only is Laura
immortalized, but also Petrarch himself. The implication is that it is by his unrequited love and
lust for Laura that he is capable of writing such high-level poetry, which leads to him being
crowned with the laurel. In the same way, it is Daphne’s escaping Apollo that allows for the
creation of the Laurel, and Laura’s escaping or eluding Petrarch allows for him to reach his own
Laurel. As the first poet to receive the laurel since the fall of the Roman Empire, Petrarch becomes
directly entwined with humanist and Renaissance ideas. 25 Reading into the power of the laurel, the
idea of self-immortalization through poetry or writing is one that emerges throughout the
Renaissance, and can be traced back to Petrarch as he crowns himself and credits his poetic
ambition. 26 By his pursuit of Laura as an earthly end to a Neoplatonic ascent, Petrarch secures a
form of immortality for both himself and Laura, therefore validating earthly desires over the
Neoplatonic ascent to the divine One, God.
Classical resources serve as a tool of humanist validation for Petrarch, providing proofs for
his frame of thought as he convinces his audience that earthly loves are a suitable focus of
Neoplatonic devotion, and that it can lead to the reward of self-immortalization. By his pursuit of
Laura as a Neoplatonic Good, Petrarch is able to write masterful poetry, and this masterful poetry
immortalizes both her as the subject and Petrarch as the creator, mirroring the immortalization of
Ovid’s myth of Apollo and Daphne. 27 Petrarch utilizes the notions of individual mastery, the
Neoplatonic ascent, and the re-interpretation of sources to fit himself into Renaissance humanism,
while promoting the idea of a Neoplatonic ascent that contrasts with the Catholic churches standard
Neoplatonic ascent to God. Petrarch demonstrates his mastery of poetry and his use of these themes
in not only poem twenty-two, but also in the entirety of the Canzoniere, proving that he is worthy
of having his name consistently associated with the great people of Renaissance humanism.
24 DellaNeva, “Piety, Metamorphosis, and the Laurel: Ovid, Petrarch, and Sceve,” 199.
25 Braden, “Love Poems in Sequence: The Amores From Petrarch to Goethe,” 267.
26 Ibid.
27 DellaNeva, “Piety, Metamorphosis, and the Laurel: Ovid, Petrarch, and Sceve,” 199.
© Taylor Simard, 2022. All rights reserved.
26–– Apollo and Daphne as Validation of Laura as a Neoplatonic Good in Poem Twenty-Two ––
Bibliography
Braden, Gordon. "Love Poems in Sequence: The Amores From Petrarch to Goethe." In A Handbook to the
Reception of Ovid, edited by John F. Miller, Carole E. Newlands, 2621-275. Chichester: John
Wiley & Sons Incorporated, 2014.
DellaNeva, JoAnn. "Poetry, Metamorphosis, and the Laurel: Ovid, Petrarch, and Sceve." French Forum 7
no.3 (1982): 197-209.
Enterline, Lynn. "Embodied voices: autobiography and fetishism in the Rime Sparse." In The Rhetoric of
the Body from Ovid to Shakespeare, 91-124. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000.
Ovid. “The Metamorphoses: Book I.” In The Norton Book of Classical Literature. Translated and edited
by Bernard Knox. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1993.
Petrarch, Francesco. “Poem 22.” In Selections from the Canzoniere and Other Works. Translated by Mark
Musa. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1985.
Shermock, Rachel N. "Apollo's Marble Forge: The presence of classical virtue and epic heroism in Italian
Renaissance humanism and art." PhD diss., University of South Dakota, 2012.
https://www.proquest.com/docview/1015013935/1D47E0925E304215PQ/1?accountid=9894.
© Taylor Simard, 2022. All rights reserved.
27–– Taylor Simard ––
© Taylor Simard, 2022. All rights reserved.
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