Petrarch

A common theme found in sonnets is the theme of love. The meter and rhyme scheme is great to talk about love as the words naturally flow off the tongue. The Italian style was popularized by Francesco Petrarch who was known for writing about his admiration of a woman. The sonnet quickly spread throughout Italy and was formally known as Petrarchan sonnet. The sonnet consisted of two stanzas, the octave (first eight lines) and the sestet (the final six lines)…

After the fall of Rome in the 500's and 1500's Europe was in a time period called the "dark ages". Petrarch, an Italian scholar, created the term "dark ages" as stated in the dark ages movie talk. During the dark ages there were many declines and advancements, making it complicated for historians to decide if it was truly a dark age. These growths and declines are making historians go into a long debate about whether the dark age was really a dark age or a period of growth. Although there are…

astronomy, physics, and mathematics. During the 16th and 17th century, the Church was mostly in control of education. If an individual wanted to study a topic, he or she would most likely seek a scholarship in order to be able to study. An example is Petrarch and how the Church allowed him to study ancient texts. The Church promoted the idea of education to individuals. Galileo Galilei was known for proving the planets orbited around the sun and did not orbit around the Earth. One of the…

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…

Italian The Italian era is best known for the renewed interest in the culture of classical antiquity. The literature of the Italian Renaissance includes, the humanists Petrarch (The Canzoniere), and authors like, Castiglione (The Book of the Courtier) and Machiavelli (The Prince). The paintings of the era were influenced by Western painting, with artists such as Michelangelo, Raphael, and Leonardo da Vinci. The architecture got their inspiration from Greek and Roman architecture, with works such…

These people studied Greek and Latin classical texts. One of the leading thinkers of the time was Petrarch, who was also known as the father of Humanism. Humanism encouraged people to think, explore, question, and experiment to discuss answers to worldly problems. Leonardo da Vinci created studies of flying machines, submarines, and the human body. Galileo…

Laura during the plague; the fourth, the triumph of Laura’s bright fame over grime death; the fifth, the inevitable triumph of Old-Man Time over Laura’s fame; and the sixth, and ultimate triumph, the triumph of eternity over time, in which Laura and Petrarch are finally able to enjoy everlasting bliss…

beautiful view of Bologna’s red roofs. After lunch, head to University of Bologna, the oldest university in Europe. Dating back to 1088, the university attracted some of Europe’s great thinkers like Pico della Mirandela, Nicolaus Copernicus, Francesco Petrarch and Henry of Segusio. The university houses a number of interesting attractions such as Anatomical Theatre, Museum of Zoology, Physics Museum and Herbarium. In the afternoon, soak in the atmosphere of Bologna and make your way to Giardini…

It is important to understand Renaissance means Rebirth or Revitalization. “Spanning roughly the fourteenth through the sixteenth centuries no longer seems to be the abrupt onset of the modern era, suddenly shining forth in the fifteenth century to illuminated medieval darkness with the rekindled light of classical antiquity.” (Ott, 2012) During this period Italy was able to turn the “emphasis slowly away from the ideas and values of supernatural orientation and towards those concerned with…

One of the most notable Italian Renaissance figures was Petrarch. He was the father of humanism which is the interest of the individual in the human capacity to learn, independence, beauty, worth and dignity of mankind. The ideals of humanism were central to the Italian Renaissance as they marked a turn from the medieval to modern thinking. Petrarch and the humanists studied the values and ideals of Cicero and Virgil. In one of the most famous paintings…