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Petrarchan

American  
[pi-trahr-kuhn] / pɪˈtrɑr kən /

adjective

  1. of, relating to, or characteristic of the works of Petrarch.

  2. characteristic or imitative of the style of Petrarch.


noun

  1. Petrarchist.

Etymology

Origin of Petrarchan

First recorded in 1820–30; Petrarch + -an

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

It’s also true that, in order to portray the kinds of psychic shifts required by the Petrarchan volta, Lock would have had to allow herself the kind of invention that was forbidden to women.

From The New Yorker • Aug. 5, 2019

Post-debate analysis will reveal that all of her answers will have been composed as perfect Petrarchan sonnets.

From Washington Post • Apr. 18, 2017

A favorite scholarly idea is that these questions mistake Shakespeare’s real purpose, which was to invent a group of characters in order to play with Petrarchan conventions.

From The New Yorker • Jun. 29, 2015

The model of all lyrical poetry was Petrarch, and it was in accordance with the lyrical poet's agreement or disagreement with the Petrarchan method that he was regarded as a success or a failure.

From A History of Literary Criticism in the Renaissance With special reference to the influence of Italy in the formation and development of modern classicism by Spingarn, Joel Elias

Wyatt, it should be observed, generally departs from the Petrarchan rime-scheme, on the whole unfortunately, by substituting a third quatrain for the first four lines of the sestet.

From A History of English Literature by Fletcher, Robert Huntington