Social and Historical context

Remember!

The Petrarchan Lover:

Suffers from unrequited love—the love is not returned or reciprocated,

loves from afar. Often the object of love doesn’t even know someone is

pining for her.

Idealizes—falls in love with an ideal, a vision of perfection, rather than a

human being with strengths AND weakness. Falls in love with an idea—an

idea of a person, the idea of love.

Idolizes—Turns the lover into an idol, an object of worship. Puts the lover

on a pedestal (she’s high above/he’s a lowly peon), worships her from afar,

compares her to a goddess or something holy.

This is not truly love. This is infatuation.

Infatuation—in love with the idea of love rather than a real person/ is in

love with love/ is in love with longing rather than having

Language—Devices

n  uses blazon to catalogue physical beauty and physical characteristics

(similes and metaphors)

n  uses conceit—exaggerated metaphors

n  uses elaborate, flowery, exaggerated, embellished, artificial language

Petrarchan love is not a sexual love.

Here are some links for you to look at when researching;
a. Features of Petrarchan poetry

http://www3.dbu.edu/mitchell/petrarch.htm


b. Femininity and ideal beauty during Elizabethan period.

http://unusualhistoricals.blogspot.co.uk/2007/11/standards-of-beauty-elizabethan-ideal.html

http://www.rmg.co.uk/explore/sea-and-ships/in-depth/elizabeth/the-queen's-court/body-and-dress/*/viewPage/4