The Idiom of Love: Love Poetry from the Early Sonnets to the Seventeenth Century

Written in a clear and engaging style, The Idiom of Love explores the fascinating world of 16th and 17th century European love poetry - the pinnacle of this branch of literature. Poems of love need not be autobiographical; but as an expression of the purest form of emotion, they necessarily draw both from the poet’s own experience and on a lyrical canon. In this book, Judy Sproxton examines both from Petrarch’s influential imagery of irreconcilable opposites through the work of the most brilliant 16th and 17th century exponents. From Shakespeare’s withdrawal of love poetry from the public eye to Donne’s delight in the positive aspect of love between a man and a woman, The Idiom of Love provides new insights into one of the most inspiring periods in European literature for students and lovers of poetry,.