Whammy! I may have gone a little overboard.

[oh_lorelei]

Bittersweet.

This term first came up in regards to Sappho's love poetry, and it seems it only grows more appropriate when applied to the Romantic poetry of the likes of Dante, Petrarch, and Sir Philip Sidney. To quote loosely last week's lecture, "most love poetry is produced through the frustration of unattainable love; very little love poetry

Comments

[roger_kuin]

Mmmmm - good post. As for Laura, in Petrarch's Secretum (the bit not on the Web, alas - Dialogue III) it's made clear that, like Stella to Astrophil, she did in fact love him and declared her love for him, but only on condition that it remain a chaste love. When he could not accept that, she reluctantly accepted his inability to do so.
In the case of Sidney, remember that the persona writing is "Astrophil", the Star-Lover. And, as I always tell my Sidney classes, "Astrophil is (not) Philip". That's part of the fun of sonnets -- nothing is ever completely true.

[oh_lorelei]

Ahh. Well in that case, anytime I say "he" when describing the sonnets, everyone please presume that I am (not) referring to Astrophil.

... if you get my meaning.