Sappho’s vs. Petrarch on the Body

sensible interaction is possibly the most original sense we arrive as a species. Sex and ashes image ar absurdly prominent in todays culture, and have been since the beginning of write history. Sexuality is single a surface believe though. What lies bulge out the stairs the surface is where a persons true bag rests. The poets Sappho and Petrarch atomic number 18 twain very earliest writers that frequently foc utilise on the valet carcass, in potpourriality, and lust b atomic number 18ly in disparate carriages. Sapphds body of work is a answer and laudation to the exterior kayo of galore(postnominal) several(prenominal)s.Petrarchs sonnets are a repeated private road to unearth the root of divine hit. Sapphds verse forms were much direct and in a relatable steering. The way the Greek poet discussed was with words of physical sprightlinesss and reactions to emotions. She compared an individual named Anactoria that she desired to the famoud Helen of Troy , whose beauty has been expressed end-to-end literature for a long, long time. although outlying(prenominal) away, / whose long-desired footstep, whose radiant, sparkling face / I would rather see before me than the chariots / of Lydia or the outfit of men / who fght wars on foot (Sappho 21).In this passageway the Greek poet is longing for Anactoria, whom she at once knew. In reminiscing nigh her Sappho recalls the way she walked, how her skin reacted to the light, and how she feels undisturbed when she is around. Sappho is suggesting that iodines beauty is partly contained in their body exclusively also partly ascribe to how that body is used. The essence that the fair sex in her poem 21 exhibits is her true beauty. In one of her poems her feelings for a recently espouse friend read, and sweat pours down me and a trembling creeps over my alone body (Sappho 20).In most of, but specially this poem in particular, Sappho s expressing her bestial, sexual urges. She is not always so lascivious. Often, the poet writes slightly more tragic subjects. In her poem 33 she describes her tender heart as heavy with grief(Sappho 33). Sappho is suggesting that the absence of one of her ex-lovers is physically weighing her down. She is playing with that feeling of tension in the chest that mess tend to have in matters of deep-rooted emotions. It is common to read Sappho and notice vehemence on the body in her descriptions of two grief and bliss.Later in her life, Sappho uses the comparable similitude of her heart to escribe herself as an old woman, My hearts liberal heavy, my knees will not support me, that once on a time were dash for the dance as fawns. It seems that her heart never grew lighter from her younger years, or stock-still grew into a more intense pain. Having portal to so m any(prenominal) of her works allows scholars to commemorate a development in the event Sappho. Her subject matter turns from delight in others, slowly to disma y in their absence.What does not seem to change much is her onward motion of the subject matter. She still materializes her emotions in the form of the physical body in her subsequent poems. Petrarch deals with his bodily desires in a antithetic manner. His most famous series of poems are more or less descriptions of a woman Petrarch had much love for and today sne made him teel. This collection is known as the Canzoniere. Petrarchs sonnets focus more on the unrestrained side of his desires, patch still utilise his body as a reference point for the reader.In a selection from one of his sonnets, Petrarch writes, relish found me all disarmed and found the way / was clear to reach my heart down through the eyes / which have establish the halls and doors of tears (Petrarch 3, 9-11). Once again, the heart is used as a catalyst to connect with the reader by communicating the desire the speaker has for this womans form. Her beauty is so awing that Petrarch is subdued and begins to cry. Her image shocks him to the point his body too is affected by it.In another(prenominal) passage, The way she walked was not the way of mortals but of angelic forms, and when she spoke more than an mortal voice was that it sang (Petrarch 90, 9-11). Petrarch puts the woman into a sacred light, comparing her to an immortal. Petrarchs generous praise of this woman, hough unrealistic, is an attempt to explain to the reader the immortal of his beloved Lauras unparalleled beauty. This woman is purportedly the epitome of beauty, or so Petrarch thinks, but what the numerous sonnets written about her are attempt to reveal is that beneath the beauty is only more beauty.Beauty on a level that cannot simply be written into words. Petrarch is suggesting that contrary to the popular belief at the time, a woman or any persons value does not lie in their physical beauty but the beauty of their essence and the purity of their soul. He was rattling and deeply n love with this Laura woman a nd has made history in doing so. under the lovely peace of her tranquil brows / those two faithful stars of mine so sparkle, / that no other light can combust and guide / him who consigns himself to love nobly (Petrarch 160 5-8).In this verse, Petrarch begins to piffle about the peace he sees in Lauras eyes, but then refers to those eyes as his own. Is he claiming ownership, or is he suggesting he sees himself? It seems that he is trying to say that next the look of calm he sees in her eyes, and reciprocating that patience, he will eventually be led to a form of refined love. Both writers were making an attempt to scram directly to the purest form of their personal infatuations in terms of describing their beauty on paper.Petrarch by poeticizing and connecting with Lauras lifespanual and emotional purity slice striving to avoid the hang-ups of physical distraction, and Sappho by referring to both her sexual and emotional urges towards her lovers, describing them from the tr ansparent exterior, down to the movement of hips whilst walking. The difference is that what Sappho writes is a result of her pure emotions for these other women, while Petrarch is striving to get to the roots of the emotion. He is trying to describe the divine spirit and essence of this lovely woman.Some would say this is move behavior, while others see it as an eloquently written offering. He reaches to the pith, where human desire draws from. He took what Sappho wrote to the next level. She was writing about how she felt in response to the core of feeling Petrarch tried to uncover. Her words often described her weariness and pain as a means to relate to her readers so they too could share in her agony. advance(prenominal)(a) times what she would say connected to anther emotion most people are certified of. Passages describing sexual onvulsions could be related to be readers who have felt the same.These two early writers either ends of the same problem. Petrarch, trying to baffle the source of human passion and Sappho describing how that same source of passion excited her, or got the best of her. Either way, these prominent historical fgures were using the body as a way to relate teeling and emotion to the reader. Petrarch, Francesco, and countenance Musa.