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This peculiar relation of Laura to Petrarch as a monitress, no less than an object of adoration, goes far to establish the reality of his passion, which is exactly that which men frequently entertain for women a little older than themselves, and whom they deem in some measure or some respect their superiors. He feels himself ennobled by his love, a sentiment expressed with great force in the tenth sonnet, one of the earliest, and in many others, especially the beautiful Sonnet clii.:

Soul, that such various things with various art Dost hearken, read, discourse, conceive and write; Fond eyes, and thou, keen sense framed exquisite To bear her holy message to the heart: Rejoice ye that it hath not been your part To gain the road so hard to keep aright Too late or soon for beacon of her light, Or guidance her imprinted steps impart. Now with such beam and such direction blest ’Twere shameful in brief way to miss the sign Pointing the passage to eternal rest. Upward, faint soul, thy heavenward path incline; Through clouds of her sweet wrath pursue thy quest, Following the seemly step and ray divine.