Triumphs (Italian language: I Trionfi) is a 14th-century Italian series of poems, written by Petrarch in the Tuscan language. The poem evokes the Roman triumph, where victorious generals and their armies were led in procession by the captives and spoils they had taken in war. This was a popular and influential poem series when it was published.
Composed over more than twenty years, the poetry is written in terza rima.
The ancient Roman triumph survived the Middle Ages in various forms, and was used as a literary device with the entrance of Beatrice in the Divine Comedy.
Structure
The poem is structured in six allegorical triumphs. The triumphs are
Concatenation, so that the Triumph of Love (over Mankind and even gods) is itself triumphed over by another allegorical force, the Triumph of Chastity. In its turn, Chastity is triumphed over by Death; Death is overcome by Fame; Fame is conquered by Time; and even Time is ultimately overcome by Eternity, the triumph of God over all such worldly concerns.
Triumphus Cupidinis: Triumph of Love
One spring day in
Vaucluse, the poet falls asleep and dreams that Love,
personification as a naked and winged young man armed with a bow, passes by on a fiery
quadriga drawn by four white horses. Love is attended by a multitude of his conquests, including illustrious historical, literary, mythological, and biblical figures, as well as ancient and medieval poets and
troubadours. Eventually the procession reaches
Cyprus, the island where Venus was born.
Although only Love is described in the text as riding on a car or chariot, it became normal for illustrators to give them to all the main figures.[Hall, 310]
Triumphus Pudicitie: Triumph of Chastity
Love is defeated by Laura and a host of personified virtues such as
Honor,
Prudence and
Modesty, as well as chaste heroines including
Lucretia,
Penelope, and
Dido. Love's captives are freed and Love is bound to a column and chastised. The triumphant celebration culminates in
Rome, in the Temple of Patrician Chastity.
Triumphus Mortis: Triumph of Death
Returning from the battle, the victorious host encounters a furious woman dressed in black, who reveals a countryside littered with the corpses of once proud people from all times and places, including emperors and popes. This personification of Death plucks a golden hair from Laura's head. Laura dies an idealised death, but returns from heaven to comfort the poet, who asks when they will be reunited in one of the most significant passages of the poem. She replies that he will survive her a long time.
Triumphus Famae: Triumph of Fame
Death departs and after Death comes Fame. Her appearance is compared to the dawn. She is attended by
Scipio Africanus and
Caesar, and many other figures from Rome's military history, as well as
Hannibal, Alexander,
Saladin,
King Arthur, heroes from
Homer's epics, and patriarchs from the Hebrew scriptures. Accompanying these soldiers and generals are the thinkers and orators of
Classical Greece and
Classical Rome. It has been remarked that for Petrarch,
Plato is a greater philosopher than
Aristotle, who was preferred by
Dante.
Triumphus Temporis: Triumph of Time
Time is represented by the
sun, chasing the dawn and racing across the sky, jealous and scornful of the fame of mortals. In an elegy on the fickleness of Fame the poet concludes that it will always eventually be followed by oblivion, the "second death".
Triumphus Eternitatis: Triumph of Eternity
Petrarch finds consolation in the almighty God and the prospect of being reunited with Laura in heaven and timeless eternity. Eternity is not represented allegorically.
Analysis
Triumphs examines the ideal course of a man from
sin to redemption: A theme with roots in medieval culture, being typical of works like
Roman de la Rose or the
Divine Comedy. Petrarch's work invites comparison with Dante's, from the structural point of view (having adopted Dante's
terza rima meter) as well as for its treatment of an allegorical voyage.
Triumphs shares and builds on numerous themes of Petrarca's Canzoniere, such as the confrontation of death, as in the sonnet Movesi il vecchierel canuto e bianco ("Grizzled and white the old man leaves"), and the spiritualization of his love for Laura.
Critical analysis
Triumphs is appreciated for its lyrical achievements and the poet's vivid introspection into his feelings. On the other hand, it has been criticized for the mechanical rigidity of its narrative in contrast to the more natural style of the
Canzoniere, and the long enumerations of notable persons which often sap its vitality.
This work is also noted by scholar Gertrude Moakley (1905–1998) as being a probable origin for the 21 trump cards of tarot decks.
Notes
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Hall, James, Hall's Dictionary of Subjects and Symbols in Art, 1996 (2nd edn.), John Murray,
