Changes

Today the poetry of Boccaccio is only read by academics and his fame as a poet has long since been eclipsed by his works in prose. However, he was a fine poet and he decidedly shaped the direction of Renaissance poetry in both Italy and elsewhere. He helped to popularise many rhymes and verse forms especially the Octavo stanzas. Moreover, it appears that he introduced Petrarch to the works of the Sicilian School which had developed innovative stanza forms. Many believe that this inspired Petrarch to develop his own form of the sonnet <ref>McWilliams, p 7</ref>. Boccaccio wrote many long narrative poems’, and this inspired many poets throughout Europe, including Chaucer. His long poems such as the Il Filostrato had many imitators, and indeed this work was the basis for Shakespeare’s tragedy Troilus and Cressida. The poet’s works are often categorized as belonging to the ‘Courtly Love’ tradition and his verse popularized this form of self-expression, throughout the European realms. Boccaccio’s poetry was very much focused on the personal and the emotional lives of the individual and their ambitions, hopes, and sorrows<ref>Burckhardt, p. 113</ref>. This was something that inspired many to adopt a more personal style of verse which had a great impact on European culture from the 14th century to the present.

Boccaccio was very much interested in the classical past and can be considered to be one of the great mediators between the classical world and Renaissance Italy. His encyclopedia on classical myths did much to generate interest in Ancient history and culture and persuaded many to study Greek-Roman civilization. Boccaccio was like his friend Petrarch fascinated by the classical past and he popularized the works of Homer in Florence and this persuaded many to study the works of the poet who sang of the destruction of Troy and the adventures of Odysseus. Boccaccio was one of the first Italians who celebrated the Greeks and their culture, especially in his role as a public lecturer. The Florentine was a deeply religious man, but he saw value in this life and believed that earthly pleasure was not inherently sinful. There is a real delight in nature and people in the works on the writer and he stressed that everyone was an individual <ref>Burckhardt, p 19</ref>. In his works, his characters are struggling with circumstances and using their reason and foresight to improve their lot in life. In his main work, he shows young people enjoying and celebrating life despite the fact that the Black Death is raging all around them <ref> Steel, David. "Plague writing: from Boccaccio to Camus." Journal of European Studies 11, no. 42 (1981): 88-110 </ref>. The Decameron was influential in promoting the humanistic worldview in the Renaissance.

==Vernacular literature==