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Literature Focus II. The Sonnet
The word sonnet comes from the Italian sonetto, meaning “a little sound or song.” For more thanseven hundred years, poets have used thesehighly structured fourteen-line poems to exploresuch deeply felt issues as the fleeting nature oflove and the aching questions of mortality.
During the 1300s, Italian poet Francesco Petrarch (1304–1374) popularized the sonnet. The form grew in popularity until, by the end of the 16th century, poets throughout much of Europe were writing sonnets. Many of the most recognizable poems in history have been written in sonnet form. The Romantic poet William Wordsworth wrote that the sonnet was the key with which “Shakespeare unlocked his heart.”
Petrarch wrote hundreds of poems about a woman named Laura. Later, many other Renaissance poets also wrote sonnet sequences,which, like Petrarch’s, consisted of a series of sonnets focused on a particular theme. English poets Sir Philip Sidney and Sir Edmund Spenser both wrote sonnet sequences examining questions of love. In the seventeenth century, poets such as John Donne and John Milton began to depart from the sonnet’s common love themes and to explore religion and personal experience in their sonnets.
Meter and Rhyme PatternsTraditional sonnets have fourteen lines, each of which is written in iambic pentameter.That is, each line has five metric units, or feet,and each foot consists of an unstressed syllable (marked ) followed by a stressed syllable (marked
). The rhythm of a line of iambic pentameter would be indicated as shown in this example from Spenser’s “Sonnet 30”:
My love is like to ice, and I to fire;
Sonnets also have set rhyme schemes, based on the last word in each line. To identify the rhyme scheme of a poem, begin with the first line and assign letters, in alphabetical order, to each new sound at the end of the lines. Lines that end in the same sound should be assigned the same letter. In Sidney’s “Sonnet 39,” for example, the rhyme scheme for the first four lines would be abab:
Come sleep! O sleep, the certain knot of peace, a
The baiting place of wit, the balm of woe, b
The poor man’s wealth, the prisoner’s release, a
The indifferent judge between the high and low; b
Sonnet FormsThere are three major sonnet forms: the Italianor Petrarchan,the Englishor Shakespearean,and the Spenserian.
The Italian Sonnet The Italian sonnet is often called the Petrarchan sonnet after Francesco Petrarch, the poet who made it famous. Many of Petrarch’s sonnets are about his love for a woman who did not return his love. Thus, unrequited love is a common topic for sonnets that follow this form. In an Italian sonnet, the first eight lines (called an octave) present a problem or situation. The last six lines (called a sestet) provide an answer or resolution to the problem. The switch from problem to resolution is called the “turn.” The octave of a typical Italian sonnet has the rhyme scheme abbaabba, and the sestet follows either cdecde or cdcdcd.
If my life find strength enough to fight
the grievous battle of each passing day,
Octave: problem or that I may meet your gaze, years from today,
situation is described. lady, when your eyes have lost their light,
and when your golden curls have turned to white,
and vanished are your wreaths and green array,
and when your youthful hue has fled away,
whose beauty makes me tremble in its sight, Turn
perhaps then Love will overcome my fears
enough that I may let my secret rise
Sestet: problem or and tell you what I’ve suffered all these years;
situation is resolved. and if no flame be kindled in your eyes,
at least I may be granted for my tears
the comfort of a few belated sighs.
The English Sonnet The English sonnet is also called the Shakespearean sonnet, because
Shakespeare was the master of this sonnet form. English sonnets are divided into three quatrains(groups of four lines, with each containing its own rhyme scheme) and one couplet(a group of two lines). The rhyme scheme is usually abab cdcd efef gg. The English form allows for a more detailed development of the question or problem in the first three quatrains, but it demands a quick summary and solution in the couplet.
The Spenserian Sonnet Sir Edmund Spenser crafted his own version of the sonnet. Like the Shakespearean sonnet, the Spenserian version has three quatrains and a couplet, but it follows the rhyme scheme abab bcbc cdcd ee. This interlocking rhyme scheme “pushes” the sonnet toward the final couplet, in which Spenser typically made a key point or comment.
Reading a Sonnet
•Always read a sonnet at least three times.
•The first time, read the sonnet silently for content.
•The second time, read it aloud to hear the meter and rhyme patterns.
•The third time, read it to discover the “puzzle” of the poem; that is, the problem the poet is trying to solve or the issue the poet explores. Then look for the “turn,” where the poet shifts focus and begins to explore solutions. Finally, find the lines that present the solution or final answer.