What Does Petrarch Sonnet 90 Mean

What Does Petrarch Sonnet 90 Mean A Poetic Analysis of Love and Pain

Petrarch Sonnet 90 is one of the most famous poems by the Italian poet Francesco Petrarca, who is considered the father of the Renaissance and the founder of humanism. The sonnet belongs to his collection of poems called Canzoniere, which consists of 366 poems dedicated to his unrequited love for a woman named Laura.

In this article, we will explore what Petrarch Sonnet 90 means, and what poetic techniques he uses to express his feelings of love and pain.

The Summary of Petrarch Sonnet 90

Petrarch Sonnet 90 is divided into two parts: an octave (the first eight lines) and a sestet (the last six lines). The rhyme scheme is ABBAABBA CDECDE, which follows the typical pattern of an Italian sonnet.

The octave describes how Petrarch first saw Laura and how he was captivated by her beauty and grace. He uses imagery and figurative language to portray her as a heavenly creature, with golden hair, radiant eyes, angelic movement, and divine voice. He also reveals that he felt pity in her face, which he interpreted as a sign of possible affection.

The sestet contrasts the past with the present, and shows how Petrarch's love for Laura has not faded over time, even though she has aged and lost some of her charm. He also admits that his love for her is painful because it is not returned. He uses a metaphor of a wound that still bleeds even after the bow (the cause of the injury) is unbent.

The Theme of Petrarch Sonnet 90

The main theme of Petrarch Sonnet 90 is the nature of true love, and how it can be both sublime and sorrowful. Petrarch explores the idea that true love does not depend on physical appearance or external circumstances, but on an inner connection that transcends time and space. He also expresses the frustration and sadness of loving someone who does not love him back, and how this causes him to suffer endlessly.

The Poetic Techniques of Petrarch Sonnet 90

Petrarch uses various poetic techniques to convey his message and emotions in Sonnet 90. Some of these techniques are:

Imagery: Petrarch creates vivid pictures in the reader's mind by using sensory details and descriptive words. For example, he writes \"Upon the breeze she spread her golden hair / that in a thousand gentle knots was turned\" (lines 1-2), which allows us to imagine Laura's hair blowing in the wind.

Figurative language: Petrarch uses similes, metaphors, personification, and hyperbole to compare Laura to something else or to exaggerate her qualities. For example, he writes \"She moved not like a mortal, but as though / she bore an angel's form\" (lines 9-10), which compares Laura to an angel and implies that she is superior to other humans.

Contrast: Petrarch creates a contrast between the past and the present, between Laura's beauty and his pain, between his hope and his reality. For example, he writes \"in eyes where now that radiance is rare\" (line 4), which contrasts Laura's eyes when she was young and when she is old.

Alliteration: Petrarch uses words that start with the same sound or letter to create a musical effect or to emphasize a point. For example, he writes \"a heavenly spirit, a living sun / was what I saw\" (lines 11-12), which uses the repetition of the \"s\" sound to highlight Laura's brightness.

Enjambment: Petrarch uses enjambment, which is when a sentence or phrase runs over from one line to another without punctuation. This creates a sense of continuity or urgency in the poem. For example, he writes \"was it a wonder if it kindled there\" (line 8), which continues from the previous line without a pause. aa16f39245