Francesco Petrarch's poetry had a great effect on the poems of later poets such as Shakespeare and Chaucer. His works were considered to be the first "modern" poems and the inventor of the sonnet, writing over 300 sonnets. ... His development of the sonnet helped influence literary greats like Shakespeare and Chaucer. ...
Elizabeth's Sonnets from the Portuguese, dedicated to her husband and written in secret before her marriage, was published in 1850. Critics generally consider the Sonnets "one of the most widely known collections of love lyrics in English "to be her best work. Admirers have compared her imagery to Shakespeare and her use of the Italian form to Petrarch. In "Sonnets from the Portuguese- Browning declares her strong emotions of love toward Robert Browning. ... Leighton describes Elizabeth's expressions as "fulsome and yet witty energy, which flirts and skirmishes with the i...
