Giovanni Boccaccio and Francis Petrarchs Differing Views...

The Love of Poetry and Story Fiction Love is a powerful experience. As cupids arrows rains down from the sky, sometimes the heart sees what is invisible to the eye. (H. Jackson Brown, Jr.) We try to capture and forever hold that experience through the art of painting, recording, and writing, hoping that one day someone will retell the memory. In 1353, Giovanni Boccaccio, completed the Decameron, which consists the fictional record of ten days: spent telling one hundred tales during one of the worst plagues ever to strike Europe. Boccaccio wrote these novellas trying to escape the black plague; although these stories do not depict his personal life, they are rather explicit about love in the 14th century. However, writing fiction†¦show more content†¦Petrarchs view of love is influenced by a fearful experience and urges individuals to avoid it, because he claims it will only bring sorrow. Petrarch feels that he has been betrayed by love and the feeling of betrayal is so deepl y rooted that he would rather commit suicide than to suffer. On the other hand, Boccaccios view of love continues to be jolly as he depicts the young women to be joyful, by inviting [Father] to play the game too often, continually urging him on in the service of God. The young character does not seem to show aggression towards the Father, only her eagerness for his assistance. Petrarchs poem, 267, . . . It is for you I burn, in you I breathe for I am yours alone; deprived of you, I suffer less for all my other pains; With hope you filled me once and with desire the time I left that highest charm alive, but all those words were scattered in the wind. Petrarch depicts that love is destructive to ones internal-self as it will only burn. He does not suffer from any other pains except love, he once felt love with high spirits, but those feelings went south as love ended up destroying him internally. Furthermore, Boccaccios story The Patient Griselda, suggests that his perspective of love should be patient. He depicts a couple who ought to get married and the groom asks for her Fathers blessing, however, the groom takes the bride, Griselda, and puts her through series of love tests for his own pleasure. Griselda gives birth to a