Analysing "Passa la nave mia colma d'oblio"

Just considering the title the reader may understand the sonnet belongs to a collection. Such consideration is conveyed by the first line bearing the same words of the title.

So, the sonnet belongs to a collection and it consists of 14 lines, going into the depth, in an octave and in a sestet, following the typical pattern of Italian sonnets.

The first octave has the function to introduce the problem creating a comparison between the speaker's life and a ship traveling in tormented seas at midnight. The skipper is worried by private thoughts that are so sad that he seems not to care even  of the terrible weather condition. He sighs, he has desires and hopes. Instead the sestet generally drives home the narrative by making an abstract comment, or applies the proposition stated before.

So, there follows the sestet where his pessimistic, sad mood are repeated: he weeps, he regrets life as well as the condition of the weather puts his voyage at risk. In the ending tercet the speaker hides his feelings in the same way as he cannot see the stars. He seems unable to use reason and even worse  to be able to reach the harbor.

It goes without saying that there is an apparent analogy between the poet's life and the voyage progress. Unfortunately, such life does not sound easy but rather unveils difficulties, problems, torments that all together seem to make the poet unable to come to an autonomous solution of his pains.

Taking into consideration the connotative level of the text an intelligent reader will immediately understand that the voyage is only a pretext to deal with something else.

As a matter of fact an intelligent reader will immediately unveil a strange comparison: between the travel and the sonneteer life. To this aim Petrarch uses the possessive adjectives like "mia", employing a personificated use of language. Another device used in the text is the approach between the semantic field of feelings and the one of sea travel. Indeed in the first you can put "penser, sospir, desio etc". Instead in the second you find "nave, oblio, mare etc". So this kind of semantic choice highlights the comparison life-travel. Besides an intelligent reader will certainly notice the rhyme between mio-rio, that links the semantic field of feelings with the one of travel.

Even better the references to weather conditions make it clear the sailing is not a simple progress but is made difficult by " verno", that is the winter season. So this kind of descrition put into a better focus the condition of fair the lyrical I has to face. Thus conveying the idea of a difficult life, made harder maybe by the love, that is the typical topic of sonnets. The figure of love could hides behind the words "nimico mio". In order to support this idea an intelligent reader will comprehend that the isisted use of the possessive adjectives in key position place the emotionally states, thus mood of the speaking voice into forefront.

In my opinion across this sonnet Petrarch wants to state his mood, a mood that is influenced probably by a woman who did not return her lover's love.