Francesco Petrarca, known in English as Petrarch, was born on 20 July 1304 in Arezzo, Tuscany, and died during the night of 18–19 July 1374 at Arquà, near Padua. He stands among the decisive makers of European literary culture: a poet whose Italian lyrics established an enduring language of desire; a Latin author who sought to restore the prestige and moral seriousness of classical letters; a tireless correspondent a…
“I closed the book, angry with myself that I should still be admiring earthly things, when even the pagan philosophers had long taught that nothing is wonderful but the soul, which, when great itself, finds nothing great outside itself.”
Neighbourhood:
Italian Renaissance Poets, Love Poets, Medieval Poets
Emotional landscape: Longing, Tenderness, Sensuality
2 live poems · Middle English
Geoffrey Chaucer, born about 1343 in London and dead on 25 October 1400, stands at the beginning of the English literary tradition not because he was the first poet to write in English, but because he revealed on an unprecedented scale what English could do. In his poems, the language accommodates courtly elegance, religious meditation, philosophical argument, vulgar comedy, domestic quarrel, public satire, and intim…
“And preie God save the kyng, that is lord of this langage.”
Neighbourhood:
Ancient & Classical Poets, Light Verse Poets, Love Poets, Medieval Poets
Emotional landscape: Longing, Sensuality, Wonder
