1. The History of the Form Part One: Petrarchan Sonnets

2. Francesco Petrarcha 1304- 1374 Born in Tuscany, Italy  wrote in Italian (i.e. the vernacular) –This made his writing accessible to all Most famous work: Canzoniere, a sequence of 366 poems, 317 of which are sonnets –FYI: A group of sonnets is called a “cycle”

3. Petrarch’s sonnets were all addressed to an idealized lover named Laura Petrarch never married

4. The Petrarchan (or Italian)Sonnet Form Fourteen line poem (like all sonnets) First eight lines (octave) present an emotional or intellectual question or problem Last six lines (sestet) resolve the problem presented Rhyme scheme: abbaabba cdecde (variations due to translation)

5. His Legacy Petrarch made the sonnet a self-sufficient form open to all people.