Consider how the tradition of courtly love (look it up) influences or is influenced by any one or more of the poets assigned.

The idea behind courtly love is centered around the idea of romance. It is not about the physical aspect of love in a relationship and neither is it about the sexual affection behind love. Instead, courtly love can be seen more of as a one-sided affection that usually goes unsuccessful. It seems strange when one thinks about it but the idea behind courtly love is centered around the idea that a man gets inspired to do creative things with every romantic step that he takes in order to win his lady’s affection. In the Canzoniere love poems written by Petrarch, Petrarch portrays courtly love as something that is greatly influenced through many scenarios discussed in the poems. The main way this idea is portrayed through Petrarch’s poems is through his beloved Laura who he has shown as a golden-haired beauty.  The description of Laura closely matches the way women were portrayed in courtly love. However, it is not just her physical description that matches the courtly love style, but her response to his poetry also corresponds to courtly love. Laura’s response to Petrarch’s poetry was cold and showed less affection than Petrarch showed. This is connected to courtly love since another factor of courtly love is to keep your love a secret and keep it hidden. The fact that Laura’s true identity was kept a secret through the poems leads into this factor of courtly love. Petrarch does such a good job at keeping her identity a secret that often scholars have pondered on the question if Laura even existed. This factor strongly contributes to how Petrarch’s poems display a significant understanding of courtly love. Overall, the general idea of courtly love is very genuine and pure. Courtly love requires one to make a lot of effort and have a lot of confidence in order to win a girl’s heart. It is not just an ordinary type of love where two people would fall in love and there would be no test of the strength of love. Courtly love is the type of love that inspires and strives you to get to know and discover each other truly.

One thought on “Consider how the tradition of courtly love (look it up) influences or is influenced by any one or more of the poets assigned.

  1. Although the love itself may be innocent, I think that the concept is illicit. It is based on a prohibited act that is just glorified as being okay because of what the man does to win the girl. The overall concept is that the love is based on a lie.

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