Compiled by Lisa Stute for English 12 on Sept. 26, 2008

The sonnet is a poetic form that can be found in lyric poetry from Europe. The term "sonnet" derives from the Italian word sonetto, meaning "little song." By the 13th century, it had developed into a poem of fourteen lines that follows a strict rhyme scheme and specific structure. One of the best-known sonnet writers is Shakespeare, who wrote 154 of them. Traditionally, when writing sonnets, English poets usually employ iambic pentameter.

Two Major Types of Sonnets: English (a.k.a Shakespearean) Italian (a.k.a. Petrarchean) Many other poets used the form, but Shakespeare and Petrarch wrote arguably the best sonnets.

Italian Sonnet Form The Italian sonnet is divided into two sections by two different groups of rhyming sounds. The first 8 lines is called the octave and rhymes: a b b a

Italian Sonnet continued The remaining 6 lines is called the sestet and can have either two or three rhyming sounds, arranged in a variety of ways: c d c d c d c d d c d c c d e c d e c d e c e d c d c e d c

Italian Sonnet continued The exact pattern of sestet rhymes (unlike the octave pattern) is flexible. In strict practice, the one thing that is to be avoided in the sestet is ending with a couplet (dd or ee), as this was never permitted in Italy, and Petrarch himself (supposedly) never used a couplet ending; in actual practice, sestets are sometimes ended with couplets.

Italian Sonnet continued The point here is that the poem is divided into two sections by the two differing rhyme groups. In accordance with the principle (which supposedly applies to all rhymed poetry but often doesn't), a change from one rhyme group to another signifies a change in subject matter. This change occurs at the beginning of L9 in the Italian sonnet and is called the volta, or "turn"; the turn is an essential element of the sonnet form, perhaps the essential element. It is at the volta that the second idea is introduced.

Example of Italian sonnet form: Another variation on the Italian form is this one, by Tennyson's older brother Charles Tennyson-Turner, who wrote 342 sonnets, many in variant forms. Here, Turner uses an a b b a c d c d e f f e f e pattern, with the volta delayed until the middle of L9:

"Missing the Meteors" A hint of rain--a touch of lazy doubt-- Sent me to bedward on that prime of nights, When the air met and burst the aerolites, Making the men stare and the children shout: Why did no beam from all that rout and rush Of darting meteors, pierce my drowsed head? Strike on the portals of my sleep? and flush

"Missing the Meteors“ continued My spirit through mine eyelids, in the stead Of that poor vapid dream? My soul was pained, My very soul, to have slept while others woke, While little children their delight outspoke, And in their eyes' small chambers entertained Far notions of the Kosmos! I mistook The purpose of that night--it had not rained.

"Sonnet 292" by Petrarch from the Canzoniere, as translated by Anthony Mortimer: The eyes I spoke of once in words that burn, the arms and hands and feet and lovely face that took me from myself for such a space of time and marked me out from other men; the waving hair of unmixed gold that shone, the smile that flashed with the angelic rays that used to make this earth a paradise,

"Sonnet 292“ continued are now a little dust, all feeling gone; and yet I live, grief and disdain to me, left where the light I cherished never shows, in fragile bark on the tempestuous sea. Here let my loving song come to a close; the vein of my accustomed art is dry, and this, my lyre, turned at last to tears.

About Sonnet 292 The sonnet 292 is a memorial poem to "Laura," the woman Petrarch loved until her death in Though some of the 366 poems in the Canzoniere are not concerned with Laura, many of them deal with her life or memory. These sonnets expressed a wide range of feelings, but never the joy of consummated love.

Petrarch’s Inspiration: Laura "Laura" means many things in Petrarch's poetry—she is the "laurel" of the poet's ambitions, but she is also his spiritual guide, much like Dante's beloved, Beatrice, and simply a beautiful young female of whom Petrarch was enamored.

The Spenserian Sonnet: The Spenserian sonnet, invented by Edmund Spenser has the pattern: a b a b b c b c c d c d e e The "abab" pattern sets up distinct four-line groups, each of which develops a specific idea; however, the overlapping a, b, c, and d rhymes form the first 12 lines into a single unit with a separated final couplet. The three quatrains then develop three distinct but closely related ideas, with a different idea (or commentary) in the couplet.

The Spenserian Sonnet continued Interestingly, Spenser often begins L9 of his sonnets with "But" or "Yet," indicating a volta exactly where it would occur in the Italian sonnet; however, if one looks closely, one often finds that the "turn" here really isn't one at all, that the actual turn occurs where the rhyme pattern changes, with the couplet, thus giving a 12 and 2 line pattern very different from the Italian 8 and 6 line pattern.

"Sonnet LIV" by Edmund Spencer Of this World's theatre in which we stay, My love like the Spectator idly sits, Beholding me, that all the pageants play, Disguising diversely my troubled wits. Sometimes I joy when glad occasion fits, And mask in mirth like to a Comedy; Soon after when my joy to sorrow flits,

"Sonnet LIV" continued I wail and make my woes a Tragedy. Yet she, beholding me with constant eye, Delights not in my mirth nor rues my smart; But when I laugh, she mocks: and when I cry She laughs and hardens evermore her heart. What then can move her? If nor mirth nor moan, She is no woman, but a senseless stone.

William Shakespeare

The English (or Shakespearian) Sonnet: The English sonnet has the simplest and most flexible pattern of all sonnets, consisting of 3 quatrains of alternating rhyme and a couplet: a b a b c d c d e f e f g g As in the Spenserian, each quatrain develops a specific idea, but one closely related to the ideas in the other quatrains. Not only is the English sonnet the easiest in terms of its rhyme scheme, calling for only pairs of rhyming words rather than groups of 4, but it is the most flexible in terms of the placement of the volta. Shakespeare often places the "turn," as in the Italian, at L9.

Iambic Pentameter Shakespeare’s sonnets are written predominantly in a meter called iambic pentameter, a rhyme scheme in which each sonnet line consists of ten syllables. The syllables are divided into five pairs called iambs or iambic feet. An iamb is a metrical unit made up of one unstressed syllable followed by one stressed syllable. An example of an iamb would be good BYE.

More on the English Sonnet Rhyme Scheme As with the other sonnets, there are fourteen lines in a Shakespearean sonnet. The first twelve lines are divided into three quatrains with four lines each. In the three quatrains the poet establishes a theme or problem and then resolves it in the final two lines, called the couplet. The rhyme scheme of the quatrains is abab cdcd efef. The couplet has the rhyme scheme gg. This sonnet structure is commonly called the English sonnet or the Shakespearean sonnet, to distinguish it from the Italian Petrarchan sonnet form which has two parts: a rhyming octave (abbaabba) and a rhyming sestet (cdcdcd).

SONNET 18 Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate: Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, And summer's lease hath all too short a date: Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines, And often is his gold complexion dimm'd; And every fair from fair sometime declines,

SONNET 18 continued By chance or nature's changing course untrimm'd; But thy eternal summer shall not fade Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest; Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade, When in eternal lines to time thou growest: So long as men can breathe or eyes can see, So long lives this and this gives life to thee.

Analysis of Sonnet 18 The poet starts the praise of his dear friend without ostentation, but he slowly builds the image of his friend into that of a perfect being. His friend is first compared to summer in the octave, but, at the start of the third quatrain (9), he is summer, and thus, he has metamorphosed into the standard by which true beauty can and should be judged.

Analysis continued The poet's only answer to such profound joy and beauty is to ensure that his friend be forever in human memory, saved from the oblivion that accompanies death. He achieves this through his verse, believing that, as history writes itself, his friend will become one with time.

Analysis continued The final couplet reaffirms the poet's hope that as long as there is breath in mankind, his poetry too will live on, and ensure the immortality of his muse.

Works Cited