Petrarch attempted to reach the epic heights of Homer and Virgil with his heroic narrative of Scipio Africanus, titled Africa. But Petrarch's more enduring legacy in English poetry followed from his Canzoniere, or "songbook." The Canzoniere indirectly introduced the sonnet to Thomas Wyatt and Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey. Wyatt and Surrey both directly translated Petrarch's sonnets, but most scholars relate their translations to the culture and politics of Tudor England. Petrarch, on the other hand, wrote his sonnets in devotion to Laura, a woman with whom Petrarch had little contact.

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