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Petrarchan Sonnets

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Cleverly wrought within Tudor poetry exists self-contradictory words and phrases which, upon closer inspection, reveal hidden truths. Renaissance love poetry, seemingly self-evident on the surface, is fraught with paradox. Contradictions such as discord and chaos being defined by harmony and balance is a paradox which is explicated in Tudor poetry. Even further, pleasure being known only by pain and knowing the material only by the immaterial, are two self-imposed contradictions by which Tudor poets express their intended meanings. Both Edmund Spenser and Sir Thomas Wyatt explore the nature of paradox within their poetry. Even further, Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey and Sir Philip Sidney use paradox to reveal the complexities of truths being understood only through absurdity. Moreover, Ione P. Couliano explores the nature of phantasma, neo-Platonism, and allegory in his work Eros and Magic in the Renaissance. Importantly, all of these works demonstrate not only the beautiful writing during the Tudor period, but they also illuminate the intricacies and emotional depth of writing during the 14th century.

Both Sir Thomas Wyatt and Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey are two Tudor poets who have translated Petrarch’s “Rima 140”. Both translations are slightly different, though they both have the same content, structure, and central metaphor. Even further, both translations use paradox in order to explicate love as a warrior and love being known only by the pain of rejection. The central ideas of both translations rest in love being boldly declared by a suitor in the first octave, only to be instantly rejected by object of his affection. The sestet demonstrates love’s warrior running away to hide, leaving his servant and the poem’s narrator behind. Importantly, the love that was described as a bold warrior in the first octave becomes cowardly in the next, demonstrating the

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