17 pages • 34 minutes read
A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Petrarch’s sonnets consist of four parts: two quatrains (groupings of four lines) and two tercets (groupings of three lines). The two quatrains together are called an octave (eight-line section), and the two tercets together are called a sestet (six-line section). Between the octave and the sestet is a turn, or volta—a change in the avenue of thought.
The first line of “Sonnet 18” references a turning, both nodding to the formal poetic element and positioning the speaker in relation to his beloved. The speaker, usually understood as Petrarch himself, writes, “[w]hen I have turned my eyes to that place” (Line 1). The poem begins in a moment when he “turned” (in Italian, volto, a conjugation of the same word as volta), or a moment when he changed position. This attempt at confirming the beloved’s position is a feature of the courtly love tradition that informs Petrarch’s poetry, such as Lancelot being able to overcome an enemy when he turns to face his beloved Guinevere.
The first quatrain, or four lines, focuses on building the metaphor (comparison) of his beloved’s beauty as a light. Turning to look at her is like turning to look at the shining sun; the “lady’s lovely face shines” (Line 2). Situating her beauty in her face, and associating love with the act of looking, are also from the courtly love tradition. However, Petrarch does not use the poetic device of the blazon, which is to describe all the features of a beloved’s face. Instead, he aligns the face of his lady with the face of the sun—a powerful force. The light causes the speaker to metaphorically “burn and melt away inside” (Line 4), like a wax candle. The light of her beauty is also powerful enough to overwhelm the speaker’s mind.
In the second quatrain, the speaker moves from the mind to the heart. The heart breaking off, or how it “parts from my self” (as Kline’s translation puts it) in Line 5 mirrors how parts of the candle-like light melt off in Line 4. The word “parte” (part) is repeated in Italian at the ends of Lines 1, 4, 5, and 8. Then, the “end of my light” (Line 6) becomes the focus. If the beauty of the speaker’s beloved, Laura, is light, then her leaving or absence can be read, metaphorically, as the end of the light. There is also the association with death, with the finality of the word end, which becomes more important in the tercets. Here, losing sight of the beloved is associated with feeling like one’s life is ending. The destructive and overwhelming power of love, usually placed in the hands of the woman, is a common trope in courtly love. Petrarch emphasizes the inaccessibility of Laura, creating a cruel Petrarchan mistress.
The second quatrain then moves to a simile, or direct comparison, between the speaker and a “blind man” (Line 7). Without the light of his beloved’s beauty, Petrarch moves blindly. Eyes are a central concern of medieval romances and the troubadours who influenced Petrarch. They present the sense of sight as deeply connected with love, and love as a kind of religion, furthering the idea of eyes’ connection with the soul. Without access to Laura’s beauty, Petrarch must wander without direction, separated from his beloved. The Italian text emphasizes this separation through the repetition of rhyming words.
The first tercet develops the connection between unrequited (or unreturned) love and death. The speaker receives “deadly blows” (Line 9), which are metaphorical expressions of being romantically rejected. The violence enacted by a cruel Petrarchan mistress is one of distance and turning away. Overwhelmed by rejection or inattention, the speaker flees. However, he cannot outrun desire, or passion. Love for Laura remains, regardless of her actions (or inaction). Desire is another repeated rhyme word (desio in Italian), one that connects the two tercets. This tercet marks how desire is out of human control, almost a godlike force that does as it pleases.
In the final tercet, the speaker’s desires and internal world become the focus. Here, words are defined as deadly, underscoring the theme of The Specter of Death. The speaker becomes silent and separated from other “men” (Line 13). Romantic, heterosexual love does not spawn community among members of the same sex in medieval courtly love. Love of a woman, whether requited or unrequited, is a distraction from male-male activities, which are often framed as duels or battles in tales of courtly love. The speaker does not want to weep with other men—and he believes his romantic plight will cause men to weep—but desires to weep in solitude. Love becomes a kind of exile for him.
Plus, gain access to 8,800+ more expert-written Study Guides.
Including features: