This is a very good introduction and sampling of Petrarch's writings. The introduction is quite informative. Of course, translating poetry is always iffy, and Hainsworth's efforts won't satisfy everyone. Petrarch's sonnets and canzoni are rhymed hendecasyllables and there's not much hope in replicating that in English. Hainsworth's translations sacrifice delicacy and rhyme for clarity, and that may turn some people off. But I'm happy with their readability and the frequent footnotes. The inclusion of some of Petrarch's Latin writings is valuable, too, for rounding out his picture. My only real complaint was that I would like to see the originals alongside the translations in the Canzoniere. There was plenty of white space on each page to do that without increasing the number of pages by much. Check out my longer reflection on substack: https://robertboydskipper.substack.com/p/selected-sonnetspetrarch-francesco ( )