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Petrarch's Sonnet Essay: The Shameful Man

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The Shameful Man Petrarch, a poet and monk from Renaissance Italy, fell in love with twelve-year-old Laura after seeing her in church. His feelings for Laura were so intense that he devoted much of his poetry to her. In Sonnet 1, Petrarch expresses that he is morally ashamed of his sexual thoughts for Laura, which he believes was his youthful error. In this sense, shame is the suffering he feels with the realization of his sins, while his youthful error was to put his bodily desires before his spiritual purity. He links his errors to God by using “fruit of shame” as a metaphor for his sins. He demonstrates this shame with the use of imagery, ambiguity, and direct address. Petrarch is relating the “fruit of shame” to the fruit eaten by Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, …show more content…

In order to acquire this relief he needs forgiveness and as the bible states, a Christian should, “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you” (ESV Bible, Ephesians 4:32). Thus, he seeks to reach as many readers as possible in order to unburden his torments, which are caused by the understanding that his love for Laura is prideful. Consequently, direct address becomes a very important tool for Petrarch, as he uses it to persuade a greater number of readers into understanding the shame of his sins. Through Sonnet 1, the Italian poet, Petrarch, illustrates his bodily versus spiritual conflict by using “fruit of shame” as a metaphor for his sins, which is caused by his love for Laura. He uses imagery, such as a heart being fed; ambiguity, such as in the words vain and errant; and direct address, such as using the word you, to demonstrate his shame for committing his sins. In this sense, shame is the torment he feels with the realization that his love for Laura deviates him from the path of

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