Good question, Helen Vincent! Having read all of Petrarch and the poetry over and over, you are absolutely. Petrarchan as a descriptive or evaluative term is almost meaningless. For example, the blazon is gerally credited to Petrarch. Henever wrote one. tpr
----- Original Message -----
From: "Vincent, Helen" <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Thursday, July 1, 2004 6:24 am
Subject: Re: FW: Scoping "skeptophilia"
> David Wilson-Okamura:
> <<We've all seen this at conferences: someone goes on and on about
> "Petrarchan this" and "Petrarchan that," when the speaker has read
> all of
> _four_ poems by Petrarch.>>
>
> Never mind conferences, what about the texts? How many early
> modern English
> Petrarchans do people think had read more than four poems by
> Petrarch, if
> that? Does having read contemporary continental poetry, but not
> Petrarchhimself count?
>
> And from the academic point of view, how many poems by Petrarch
> should you
> have read before you can authoritatively say what 'Petrarchan' means?
>
>
> Helen Vincent
> Curator
> Rare Book Collections
>
> National Library of Scotland Tel: +44 (0) 131 226 4531
> George IV Bridge Fax: +44 (0) 131 466 2807
> Edinburgh Email: [log in to unmask]
> EH1 1EW
> Scotland
>
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