Shakespeare Vs. Petrarch

A detailed Summary of Shakespeare Vs. Petrarch

William Shakespeare's "Sonnet 130" and Francis Petrarch's "She Used To Let Her Golden Hair Fly Free" both deal with the issue of ideal and unconditional love. However, they go about explaining this love in exceedingly different manners. Petrarch often depicts his lover as beautiful and angelic. On the contrary, in "Sonnet 130", Shakespeare describes his loved one by describing her human-like characteristics, implying that she is not angelic, but mundane, and the poem has thus been categorized as "anti-Petrarchan".

In "Sonnet 130", Shakespeare seems to concentrate on his mistress's physical imperfections by portraying to the reader that this woman is not an attractive creature. He draws quite a picture with his words by exclaiming that "coral is far more red" (2) than her drab lips, her hair is of "black wires" (4), "roses damasked" (5) surpass the color of her cheeks, and "in some perfumes is there more delight" (7) than the stench of this woman. She cannot sing to save her

exceeded her looks. This concept introduces an ironic tone, because most people would judge a book by its cover and would not be able to fall in love with someone like his mistress, but he overcame her physical attributes and fell in love with the mind, not the body.

Both of these sonnets illustrate the notion that true love cannot be based on looks alone. This would be described as superficial love. Divine love can solely be obtained by looking past one's outer shell, and beholding the mind or soul of he or she that dwells in the artificial body, for genuine beauty lies on the inside. Nevertheless, the two authors go about describing the appearance of their maidens in distinct fashions. Petrarch's sonnet is an expression of his blessed love for his mate wherein he describes her as attractive and sublime. And even though the loveliness of this woman dwindles with time, it is her inner beauty that entices his love for her. Opposite this stylistic technique is Shakespeare, who starts his sonnet by de

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Approximate Word count = 682
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English

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Shakespeare Vs. Petrarch

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