Petrarch and the Sonnet Lady

Soleasi Nel Mio Cor, Qual Donna Attende A Gloriosa Fama, and Gli Occhi Di Ch' Io Parlai all focus solely on one woman, and her stunning beauty. He seems to be in love with her because he says "She ruled in beauty over this heart of mine." Soleasi Nel Mio Cor makes me believe he is still in love with this beautiful woman even though she is dead. "And now her time for heavenly bliss has come," implying her life has ended and she will be resting in peace in heaven. This makes the poems sad because he is so in love with this woman that he just cannot be with.

This is a swift change from the Marie de France stories and some of the stories from the Caterbury Tales we have read. In most Marie de France lais the woman is painted as an evil figure whose sole mission is to betray her husband through adultery, and through this, either the disloyal wife or the man she had an affair with would die. In these poems the woman died but nobody seems to know how or why. A mysterious man is in love with this woman, yet nobody knows anything about him. Whether they were married, or just acquantances, his love for her can be felt through three short poems.