Renaissance Poetry

A detailed Summary of Renaissance Poetry


Renaissance ideas of women were strongly shaped by the writers of the time and by the conceptions of femininity that had existed since the Middle Ages. No one more strongly affected the early Renaissance idea of what a woman was than Petrarch, he idealized women and heterosexual love in such a way that its power would resonate into love as we see it now.

Love for Petrarch was something that was ideal and perfect, held firmly above man in the heavens, yet at the same time it meant anguish and the lack of connection with any real human emotion. He portrayed women as ideals, with stars in their eyes and their feet treading on golden ground. His ideal woman was so far removed from a real person that it was no wonder Shakespeare was to mock it in one of his most famous sonnet's.

However more important criticism of the Petrarchan ideal of femininity came from the women writers of the Renaissance because they fully addressed not only the absurdity of the Petrarchan woman but also the desperation of the true Renaissance woman. Writers like Mary Sidney refuted the ideal of Petrarch and retold it to reflect the true suffering that the real woman of the Renaissance was faced with, a life that was weighted down with the chains of an abu


O quickly end, and do not long debate

Her hair and everything about her is rendered in terms that are beyond what any ordinary human could be presumed to possess.

Alas now stay, and let my grief obtain

Let not the blame of cruelty disgrace

Nature has played its part in creating her and Petrarch seems to state that nature is behind her continued beauty as well. The wind itself helps to enhance her beauty and her connection to the earth comes through this beauty and not by the same means as it would for a man.

The way she walked was not the way of mortals

The Speaker wishes to redress the pain that she feels has been inflicted upon her and the only way that she can do so is to appeal to the outside world.

Yet this is just a cue to the reader that the following work will be about more than the surface story. "You endless torments that my rest oppress," tells the reader that Sidney is speaking against that which oppresses all women. "My rest" can mean "the rest of those like me", if we look at Sidney as the voice of womankind in this poem. Again here we see that she is addressing not simply her own issues but the greater problems that all women face.

You endless torments that my rest oppress,

but of angelic forms, and when she spoke 10

How long will you delight in my sad pain?



Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 2432
Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English

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