The Anxiety of Old Age in the Late Renaissance through the Poetry of Ronsard
Benito de la Fuente, Javier
The Anxiety of Old Age in the Late Renaissance through the Poetry of Ronsard - 2009.
53
As he declined with old age (while France, embroiled in the Wars of Religion, suffered a similar decline), Ronsard, who throughout his life had been obsessed with aging, denied the myth that love is like spring, as expressed in poetry. This was the very idea that he had previously called upon as a defense against aging. In this way he heralded the skeptical modernity of the 17th century that found it so difficult to believe in mankind’s harmonious progress. With the new scientific discoveries, Man ceased to be the center of the world. From this perspective, old age is merely a sense of horror felt toward oneself.
The Anxiety of Old Age in the Late Renaissance through the Poetry of Ronsard - 2009.
53
As he declined with old age (while France, embroiled in the Wars of Religion, suffered a similar decline), Ronsard, who throughout his life had been obsessed with aging, denied the myth that love is like spring, as expressed in poetry. This was the very idea that he had previously called upon as a defense against aging. In this way he heralded the skeptical modernity of the 17th century that found it so difficult to believe in mankind’s harmonious progress. With the new scientific discoveries, Man ceased to be the center of the world. From this perspective, old age is merely a sense of horror felt toward oneself.
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