Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
📜 Related to Petrarch 🧑‍🎨 A poetry admirer ✒️ A sonnet form
Petrarchan

Petrarchan

9.9
Relating to the poet Petrarch or the sonnet style he inspired
  • adjective
  • /ˈpɛtrɑrkən/
  • Literature
translation icon : petrarquista
  • Shakespeare's sonnets are often considered a response to Petrarchan ideals.

Examples

  • Her analysis focused on the Petrarchan influence in Renaissance literature.

  • The poet wrote a Petrarchan sonnet to express his admiration for classical forms.

  • Many English poets experimented with the Petrarchan structure before adopting other forms.

  • The Petrarchan style emphasizes unrequited love and idealized beauty.

  • Her latest poem utilizes a Petrarchan rhyme scheme, featuring an octave followed by a sestet.

  • Many contemporary poets draw inspiration from the Petrarchan style, especially when writing sonnets.

  • The Petrarchan sonnet has become a standard for expressing romantic themes in literature.

Compounds

Petrarchan sonnet
  • Literature
9.9

A 14-line poem with eight lines in one rhyme pattern and six in another

Surface Forms

Petrarchan positive

Morphology

Petrarchan = Petrarch (transparent) = Petrarch + an

Formed by adding the adjectival suffix '-an' to the proper name 'Petrarch'; the meaning 'relating to Petrarch or his style' is a regular and predictable adjectival derivation.

Etymology

Petrarchan comes from the name Petrarch, a famous Italian poet of the Renaissance who helped shape the sonnet form. So, Petrarchan as an adjective means 'connected to Petrarch' or to the poetic style he made popular.