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Although Laura, as depicted by Petrarch, is the most ethereal feminine ideal ever conceived, his passion was certainly not of the Platonic kind. The contrary has been asserted, but is contradicted by every page of the Canzoniere, which is full of reproaches to Laura for her cruelty, incomprehensible if she was not withholding very substantial favours. He certainly did not want for encouragements of a more spiritual nature:

The mist of pallor in such beauteous wise The sweetness of her smile did overscreen, That my thrilled heart, upon my visage seen, Sprang to encounter it in swift surprise. How soul by soul is scanned in Paradise Then knew I, unto whom disclosed had been That thought pathetic by all gaze unseen Save mine, who solely for such sight have eyes. All look angelical, all tender gest That e’er on man by grace of woman beamed At side of this had shown discourtesy. The gentle visage, modestly depressed Earthward, inquired with silence, as meseemed, 'Who draws my faithful friend away from me?'