PetrarchismFrom The Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics The term Petrarchism refers to the imitation—whether in verse or prose, directly or indirectly—of features in the It. poetry of Francesco Petrarca (in Eng., Francis Petrarch, 1304-74), who derived his style from cl. Lat. verse, Occitan troubadour poetry, the It. *Dolce stil nuovo, and his immediate predecessor Dante.