Name: Date: 2/14/22

3rd Quarter Performance Task 2 (Writing a Commentary)

Sonnet by Giovanni Boccaccio

1st

Purity and innocence of love

With the beautiful setting the author lays down, our three characters in the sonnet, the three
maidens-- sit down and discuss love. A gentle wind blows. Rays of sunshine penetrate through the small
openings of the leaves of the greenery that surrounds them could not cover. Truly a wonderful sight. In
my opinion, this was meant to portray the warmth that love could bring to a person. It’s a near-perfect
scenery. Who wouldn’t want to experience the tranquil and warm environment the author had created
in this setting? More on this in the next paragraph.

2nd

The author’s portrayal of said innocence

From the opening lines to the end, the sonnet is imbued with this sense of purity and innocence
that love has. The use of imagery that the author applies can testify to this statement. The lines, “That
fresh green fronds and pretty flowers did grace,” as well as, “Mid golden locks, o’ershadowing each
sweet face,” are good examples of this. Pretty flowers are conventionally associated with feelings such
as love, and golden locks-- or put simply blonde hair, has long been associated with purity and
innocence, which ties back to the theme of innocence that the author is intending. He is stating that love
can be sweet, it can make you feel good and warm emotions. This sentiment strikes through clearly in
the way he wrote this piece.

3rd

The struggles of such love

While the portrayal of the struggles of love isn’t quite as serious in this sonnet compared to
others, it’s still there. Giovanni Boccaccio expresses this in the latter half of the sonnet:

After a while, unto the other two / One spoke, and I could hear her words: “Think you / That if
our lovers were to happen by / We would all run away for very fright?” / The others answered her:
“From such delight / She were a little fool who’d wish to fly!”

Many of us struggle to even just face the ones we see as special in our eyes, we may even tend to run
and hide if we see them coming toward our general direction. We question if we look appropriate and
well-dressed enough to even be near them, or if we might bore them if we were to strike up a
conversation with that person. I think this is what the author was trying to portray in the latter half of
the sonnet, that despite how great love could feel, there’s still some sort of struggle in being in love.