John Dunne, William Shakespeare, and Francesco Petrarch all exemplify Renaissance poets who struggle to make sense of the intertwined experiences of desire and despair. Though their respective works are quite different, Dunne’s Holy Sonnets, Shakespeare’s Dark Lady Sonnets, and Petrarch’s Sonnets lead to the consistent conclusion that desire causes despair. Because it is human nature to desire that which is nearly impossible to attain, to desire is to set oneself up to fail. Accordingly, the lack of what one desires tends to take over one’s life as they continue their ceaseless search. Hopeless pursuit naturally leads to great despair. It might seem easier simply not to desire at all. However, the human experience of desire is as undeniable
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In fact, they each describe the experience of desire as similar to a loss of freedom, which is one of the most distressing human experiences one can have. Dunne cries out to God that “I/ Except you enthrall mee, never shall be free” (Dunne, Sonnet XIV). In other words, until he is set free by God (and thus attains the object of his desire), he will continue to be in a state of despair and imprisonment. Only God holds the key to Dunne’s freedom. Indeed, the speaker in Shakespeare’s compares desire to being in a state of imprisonment as well. In a sonnet directed towards the Dark Lady, he discloses that she “Prison[s] my heart in thy steel bosom’s ward” (Sonnet 133, 9). Although he loves and desires the Dark lady, this line is admittance that his love for her is akin to being in a prison that she controls. Thus, his love for her puts him directly in the confines of her control. Similarly, Petrarch’s speaker loses his sense of freedom because of desire and begs to God for wings so that he can escape the “mortal jail” (Sonnet 264, 7) that this longing for the deceased Laura entraps him in. The fact that each of these speakers use diction about imprisonment to describe their longing is a clear indicator that once someone desires any object, they surrender their personal autonomy to that thing and become
In fact, they each describe the experience of desire as similar to a loss of freedom, which is one of the most distressing human experiences one can have. Dunne cries out to God that “I/ Except you enthrall mee, never shall be free” (Dunne, Sonnet XIV). In other words, until he is set free by God (and thus attains the object of his desire), he will continue to be in a state of despair and imprisonment. Only God holds the key to Dunne’s freedom. Indeed, the speaker in Shakespeare’s compares desire to being in a state of imprisonment as well. In a sonnet directed towards the Dark Lady, he discloses that she “Prison[s] my heart in thy steel bosom’s ward” (Sonnet 133, 9). Although he loves and desires the Dark lady, this line is admittance that his love for her is akin to being in a prison that she controls. Thus, his love for her puts him directly in the confines of her control. Similarly, Petrarch’s speaker loses his sense of freedom because of desire and begs to God for wings so that he can escape the “mortal jail” (Sonnet 264, 7) that this longing for the deceased Laura entraps him in. The fact that each of these speakers use diction about imprisonment to describe their longing is a clear indicator that once someone desires any object, they surrender their personal autonomy to that thing and become