Sonnet 127 - Possible Influences

Possible Influences

Italian poet Francesco Petrarch, who was inspired by his love Laura, created the sonnet as a type of poetry. After his invention, the traditional Petrarchan theme became one of a “proud, virtuous lady and an abject, scorned lover”. The sonnet form became very popular and was introduced into English Poetry by Wyatt and Surrey. Yet, Shakespeare’s sonnets vary dramatically from those of his contemporaries. His sonnets are “very different from Petrarch, in whose love poems the processing of tradition and the establishment of new voices are no less complex, but more systematically present, active, and profound.” There is also “relatively little of the platonic idealism that fills such works as Spenser’s Amoretti in which the poet’s love for his lady lifts him above human weakness to contemplation of the divine”.

Sonnet 127 reflects changing definitions of beauty in early modern England. Around the 1600s, makeup began to become available to everyone, thus being used by the masses and influencing Shakespeare’s perception of beauty. The past in which “black was not counted fair” refers to traditional Elizabethan era priority of light skin, hair, and eyes over dark.