The Human Condition: Li Bai, Giovanni Boccaccio, Francesco Petrarch

Civilization is the continuing story of mankind's rethinking of a worldview, a dialogue of and between the ages. Literature is a vehicle of recorded expression, and the literature of the past retains its pertinence and application in the revision of social structures and individuals. Straying from god and hero worship, the works of the Chinese Tang poet Li Bai; the prose writer at the opening cusp of the Renaissance, Giovanni Boccaccio; and "the first Renaissance man," Francesco Petrarch are representatives of Humanism (Davis et al. Early Modern World 67). All are diverse in origin; however, each author is inciting revolutionary compassion for and interest in the human condition on an individualistic level.

Li Bai (701-762) writes for an academic audience, at the appointment of and with the patronage of the emperor Xuanzong. Frequently compared to European Romantic poets, "a melancholy strain of loss and regret tempers even Li Bai's most celebratory poems." Li Bai's works repudiate his predecessors, and he celebrates worldly extravagance, earning him condemnation from many state-appointed conformists, especially including Confucianists and Communists (Davis et al. The Middle Period 331-3). The poet, writing in first person, exalts the pleasure of wine, tinged with pensive sadness: "Who can bear spring's lonely sorrows, who \ face it without wine? It's the only way" ("Drinking Alone beneath the Moon" 31-2). In "Seeing Off a Friend," he masterfully expounds upon the sad farewell between two intimate individuals, and Li Bai's personality flashes on display. He employs imagery in this piece to communicate the human pathos that is echoed in nature, including the "lonely brambles"; "floating clouds"; and "falling sun" (4-6). The human emotions are mirrored and affirmed with universal imagery.

Although Li Bai writes independent of the Europeans, his sentiments of humanism correspond with Boccaccio's (1313-1375) later humanistic prose. Boccaccio writes humanistic Romanticism, and in a courtly love theme of The Decameron, complex human misery pilots the story's pathos. Seven women and three men meet up at church in the midst of chaos and death in Florence from the Black Death. With the premise of Europe's great encounter with mortality, an actual historical occurrence that he experienced firsthand, Boccaccio weaves one hundred stories for a sympathetic audience (Davis et al. The Middle Period 851). Boccaccio's The Decameron opens: "Most gracious ladies, knowing that you are all by nature pitiful, I know that in your judgment this work will seem to have a painful and sad origin" (853). The compromising situations of the characters in the tales is extremely corporeal, yet Boccaccio's treatment is understanding. Each character possesses a unique persona, and the stories tell a collective tale of common suffering and, in some cases, a tale of bittersweet triumphs.

As the literary voice of the individual strengthens, Petrarch, during "lifelong exile," spearheaded Humanism at the dimming of the Dark Ages with his writings, especially with his cycle of sonnets to Laura, oscillating from depths of pain to heights of worship (Davis et al. Early Modern World 67). The historical inaccessibility of Laura, the subject of his sonnets, parallels the poet's personal vain attempts of intimacy. "Despite his love for Laura, Petrarch fathered at least two children by an unknown woman" (Davis et al. Early Modern World 70). The mysterious reality of his paternity parallels the enigma of his poetic female subject. The audience of his self-conscious works may identify with his circumstances, as the theme of unrequited love is as ancient, perpetual and universally understood as the human condition. The reader may respond "...with thoughtful eyes \ with pity true or false, it's all the same" ("Sometimes She'd Comb Her Yellow Braids Out Loose" 5-6).

The works of the Chinese Tang poet Li Bai, Giovanni Boccaccio, and Francesco Petrarch, present examples of humanistic perspectives. From the independent time and space vantage points, each author entertainingly explicates the human condition on an individualistic level. The forum of literature preserves a storehouse of wisdom: the repetitive echoes of human passion that may advance human progress.

Works Cited

Bai, Li. "Drinking Alone beneath the Moon." The Bedford Anthology of World Literature: The Ancient World, The Middle Period, 100 C.E. - 1450. Eds. Paul Davis et al. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2004, 337.  Print.

Bai, Li. "Seeing Off a Friend." The Bedford Anthology of World Literature: The Ancient World, The Middle Period, 100 C.E. - 1450. Eds. Paul Davis et al. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2004,337.  Print.

Boccaccio, Giovanni. "The Decameron." The Bedford Anthology of World Literature: The Ancient World, The Middle Period, 100 C.E. - 1450. Eds. Paul Davis et al. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2004, 853-77.  Print.

Davis, Paul et al. The Bedford Anthology of World Literature: The Ancient World, Beginnings - 100 C.E. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2004.  Print.

Davis, Paul et al. The Bedford Anthology of World Literature: The Early Modern World, 1450-1650. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2004.  Print.

Petrarch, Francesco. "Sometimes She'd Comb Her Yellow Braids Out Loose." The Bedford Anthology of World Literature: The Early Modern World, 1450 - 1650. Eds. Paul Davis et al. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2004, 82.  Print.