released 3/19/2026

In this 2021 lecture, Dr. Benedict Whalen examines the influence of Petrarchan love poetry on Europe in general and Shakespeare in particular, and he reveals through a close read of Romeo and Juliet how Shakespeare subverted key features of Petrarch’s love poems to rich effect. Among those key features are the following: a besotted lover who can’t speak to his beloved and whose love is unrequited; an intense and self-referential introspection; a focus on mostly physical aspects of the beloved, not on his or her character; and the use of hyperbole, antithesis, and oxymoron. Whalen illustrates how Shakespeare exaggerates these features in the character of Romeo, and how Juliet in her initial conversation with him engages him in a true lovers’ dialogue that is rich, witty, generative, and immediate. Whalen concludes with a discussion of the problematic character of Friar Lawrence, who seems to embody a Baconian attitude toward nature at odds with his priestly office.

This lecture is provided courtesy of The Valor Institute.

54 minutes

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