Part 1: What was Petrarch's attitude toward his own time vs. the Classical past (historical Greece and Rome) and was history "discontinuous," as he asserted? What aesthetic impulses (motivating ideas) could be found in the Romanesque and Gothic artistic eras? And, what other aesthetic concerns might we see emerging at the end of the medieval era? Employ specific works of art and thinkers. Characterize these with descriptive observation and analysis. Use some of the terms you encountered in the module to demonstrate your knowledge of the subject.
Part 2: Describe the differences and commonalities, in your own words, of Plotinus's beliefs and Christianity, especially comparing the significance of the mystical experience. Why did Plotinus think his philosophical vision was superior to religious views? And what do both approaches have in common?
Petrarch saw, in his own time, the twilight of the Middle Age and the dawn of a new era, a rebirth of Classical ideas, learning, and artistic taste for Roman (and therefore also, Greek) style.(Module 3, Section 2) Petrarch found the Dark ages to be gloomy and sad, known as an intellectual depression and barbarian supremacy. He proposed that history was discontinuous, or that there was little or no connection between the Classical Age and the Renaissance that he saw coming into being. To be a Middle Age is to be a hyphen, or worse yet, a cypher. Petrarch largely dismissed this age by characterizing it as a dark one. (Module 3, section 2) Since he found the history discontinuous, he sought to fill in the gaps on his own by writing to the Roman thinkers.
I disagree wholeheartedly, when we think of the dark ages it is not necessarily “dark” but different, a bridge into something new. Whit out the so called dark ages happening at beginning of the middle ages we might not have the beauty that is found in the Romanesque and Gothic eras.
Petrarch may have been the first one to read the classics in doing so he paved the way for the humanistic thinkers. Medieval art projects show that the classical and era are continuous. If Petrarch had understood that when “King Carolus (742–814 CE), or Charles the Great, to preserve some of the fading knowledge of the Roman Empire.” (Module 3, Section 5) To me this helps prove continuality between the eras. Charlemagne, equestrian statue, Agostino Cornacch...
