Petrarch's characterization of the hapless lover has become an archetype of modern individualism. Indeed, in many of his poems on the pain and the bitter pleasure of love, we inevitably recognize a vivid and timely picture of ourselves. Humble sinner, aesthete, contemplative, man of the world, secretly tormented spirit, droll observer and advocate of life, Petrarch's protagonist is as richly complex as the age in which he lived.

The poems of Petrarch's Canzoniere represent one of the most influential works in Western literature. Varied in form, style, and subject matter, these ""scattered rhymes"" contain metaphors and conceits that have been absorbed into the literature and language of love.