Petrarch does not dedicate a single work to the topic of friendship, but it nonetheless figures as an underlying principle in each of his works. Despite a number of important investigations of friendship in Petrarch's Latin works, the connection between amor amicitia and his poetry remains unexamined. This dissertation delineates the key components of Petrarchan friendship in his vernacular works and contextualizes the role of friendship in the amorous and penitential narrative that spans across the Canzoniere and the Triumphs. The concept of intersubjectivity provides the prism through which to examine the psychological and social bond of friendship in Petrarch's vernacular poetry, and it is an approach that complements the many readings that focus on Petrarch's qualities as an isolated subject.

The Introductory Chapter contextualizes Petrarch's concept of friendship in relation to his major Latin influences, Cicero and Augustine. The intersubjective approach is explained and tied to the key components of Petrarchan friendship. Chapter One deals with the "Triumph of Love." The ongoing interaction with the vero amico illustrates the intersubjective quality of friendship, and the exemplum of Sophonisba and Massinissa demonstrates how Petrarchan friendship can co-exist with cupidinous love. Chapter Two addresses the question of Laura's subjectivity through a reading of the dialogue between Petrarch and Laura the "Triumph of Death II." Chapter Three argues that in the Canzoniere Petrarch depicts his ongoing struggle to achieve peace in his dynamic with Laura, which he resolves in friendship, culminating in sonnet 362 where Laura appears in a dream and addresses him as "Amico." The marginal reordering of the final thirty poems suggests that the resolution in friendship is the penultimate step in his conversion narrative. Chapter Four compares Petrarch's bond with Laura to Dante's bond with Beatrice, especially the different role of faithfulness to the beloved in each poet's conversion narrative.