Shakespeare vs petrarch

March 13, 2013
Comparing Shakespeare and Francesco’s Sonnets
William Shakespeare and Francesco Petrarch are two famous poets known by their excellent job with sonnets. Sonnet is a poetic form originated in Italy, which means “little song.” Since thirteen century, sonnet was ruled as a poem of fourteen lines that follows a rigorous rhyme scheme and specific metric. As the previous line suggest, both writers followed basically the same structural characteristics, but how about their formal features? Even though Shakespeare’s Sonnet 130 and Petrarch’s Sonnet 159 have the same theme – love – they describe their female lover in different ways by using their personal diction, metaphor, and imagery.
Petrarch’s Sonnet 159 is a very formal language poem, constituted with complex and elaborated words. To understand Petrarch’s poem is necessary a deep analysis and broad vocabulary knowledge to get all the ideas given by the writer. He also uses abstract words to describe his lover which make us to consider her surreal. “Who never looked upon her perfect eyes, / The vivid blue orbs turning brilliantly” (10-11). In this passage, Petrarch uses orbit – an example of abstract word – referring to his lover’s blue eyes which demonstrates an extreme idealism of his beloved and praising her perfection. On the other hand, Shakespeare’s Sonnet 130 uses informal language with concrete words comparison which makes his beloved real and imperfect. “And in some perfumes is there more delight / Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks” (7-8). In this passage, Shakespeare makes it clear that his beloved is a real person by describing her imperfections.
Petrarch uses hyperbole to emphasis his beloved’s qualities and gives the reader an idea of her greatness. “He looks in vain for heavenly beauty, he ” (9). In this passage, it is possible to notice that the author describes his beloved as being an unattainable beauty which is not real and magnify her perfection. Differently than