The love poetry of the Renaissance is a genre that gave rise to a new style focusing on human feelings as the highest form of manifestation of spiritual experiences. Outstanding British, Italian, Spanish, and other poets laid the foundation for a special form of versification, which became the background for subsequent generations and allowed conveying the depth of emotions. The rejection of religious themes and an emphasis on a human soul is a characteristic feature of this genre.
During the Renaissance, poetry took on new forms and ways of expressing feelings. According to Mayne, prominent English poets, such as Shakespeare, Milton, Donne, and some others made contributions to the development of this genre and developed the sonnet style previously proposed by Petrarch. The theme of love was conveyed through suffering, a wide range of emotions, and vivid epithets, which was not typical of earlier medieval poetry (Semple). Snell draws attention to the techniques of the English poets and notes that their romanticism laid the foundation for a new concept in the reflection of the relationship between a man and a woman. Thus, the Renaissance love poetry is a genre that called for an open expression of feelings, and compared to earlier works, poems and sonnets from this period were distinguished by a rich emotional coloring.
Works Cited
Mayne, Emily. “Love Poetry in Renaissance England.”British Library, 2017.
Semple, Edel. “You Give Love a Bad Name: Pop Music and Renaissance Love Poetry.” RTÉ, 2020. Web.
Snell, Melissa. “Love Poems of the English Renaissance.”ThoughtCo, 2019.