Love context

Question 1

Plato

Answer 1

‘love is the desire for the permanent possession of the good’

Platonic lover worships the beauty of his mistress so that he may adore her soul

Question 2

Adam and Eve

Answer 2

‘this is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh… they shall be one flesh’

Adam displays a proudly possessive intimacy through repetition of ‘bone’ and ‘flesh’

Question 3

Song of Songs

Answer 3

Collection can stand alone as an ecstatic celebration of the joy of human love

Acknowledges that love will transcend death – ‘set me as a seal upon thine heart, as a seal upon thine arm, for love is as strong as death. Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it’

Question 4

Courtly love

Answer 4

Remarkably similar to modern notions – lover falls passionately at first sight, suffers the pangs of love, may have to overcome obstacles

Fin amor – enduring of pain, this propels him to poetry; the madness of love

‘love is hostile peace and loving hatred, disloyal loyalty and loyal disloyalty; it is confident fear and desperate hope, demented reason and reasonable madness

Question 5

Petrarch and Laura

Answer 5

Best known for canzoniere (or rime sparse – scattered rhyme) which was an extended sonnet sequence inspired by and dedicated to his beloved Laura

‘it was the day when the sun’s rays turned pale with grief for His maker when I was taken’

Worships her as an earthly representation of God’s divine grace – ‘from her comes the courageous joy that leads you to heaven along a straight path’