By: Curt

Curt — Sat, 21 May 2005 10:03:10 +0000

Interestingly, I’m currently writing a paper about practically that very point in the context of the first sonnet of the Canzoniere by Petrarca. As widely talked about as the collection is, it is less acknowledged than perhaps it should be that the first sonnet sets the whole thing up as an indirect sort of Augustinian confession and penitence (indirect in that they don’t seem to have been originally written in that spirit, but the seemingly much later-written first sonnet frames it as a demonstration of what an idiot he was when young, his “youthful errors” is his tactful expression). But a find the whole idea of that sentiment expressed in the form of a sonnet inherently odd, being as the form was basically invented for songs of seduction or daft rhapsodies about love. Just like the Divina Commedia in which the belle dame sans merci becomes the spiritual guide to heaven, it’s practically the essence of the mixing of the sacred and the profane. I was going to cite San Juan de la Cruz as another good example, but it’s generally pretty irrelevant to bring up links between a writer and later writers unless one is specifically talking about the writer in question’s influence.

By: shonk

shonk — Sat, 21 May 2005 04:15:31 +0000

In support of my point, I note that the Spanish-language article, although it also hews pretty closely to the orthodox line, at least acknowledges the use of the imagery of "amor profano" in the poem.

By: Curt

Curt — Fri, 20 May 2005 10:29:51 +0000

Well, you know, they did the same thing to the Song of Songs. How exactly is it scripture again? And as for Ecclesiastes, well…Solomon must have been blinding his devotees with some sort of light.

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