Although Shakespeare is often associated with the word sonnet, he is not the sole or final poet to have written them. Sonnets have been in existence for centuries and have proven their longevity. The reason for their enduring nature can be attributed to evolution. Similar to how humans have had to adapt and change over time, sonnets too have undergone transformation.
The two main forms of the sonnet are the Italian sonnet, also known as the Petrarchan sonnet, and the English sonnet, also known as the Shakespearean sonnet. To demonstrate how the sonnet has evolved over time, we will carefully examine these two forms. Giacomo da Lentini, also known as Jacopo, is credited with creating the earliest known form of the sonnet in the thirteenth century. He drew inspiration from Provencal poetry and incorporated his own aristocratic and exclusive preferences into themes, style, and language (Giacomo).
Giocomo is known for his poetry that explores various notions of love. However, his concept of love does not align with modern interpretations. Instead, it focuses on themes like “the service of the lover to his lady” (Giacomo). While Giacomo is credited as the originator, Petrarch is the poet who gained recognition and acclaim for his sonnets. Petrarch popularized the form by writing love sonnets about Laura and expressing his unrequited love for her. It is believed that they may have encountered each other in a church, although this assumption may be presumptuous.
Petrarch’s fixation on her resulted in the creation of incredibly beautiful poetry, which we would have otherwise never had the chance to see. Despite never knowing this woman and never being able to have her, Petrarch’s impact on the world was profound. He revolutionized the sonnet, giving birth to a legacy of love poetry that would span generations. In addition to his passion for literature, Petrarch also possessed a strong religious faith, a deep love for virtue, and a remarkable understanding of the fleeting nature of human existence.
The reaction that followed also marked the start of his well-known pure love for a woman named Laura, whose identity remains unknown to this day. Despite speculation, Petrarch chose to remain silent about her personal life and social status. This may have been his way of shielding her from criticism or simply because he didn’t deem it important to mention while expressing his love for her. On April 6, 1327, he first laid eyes on her in the Church of St. Clare at Avignon and instantly fell in love, despite her unattainable status.
From the love, springs the work for which he is most celebrated – the Italian poems (Rime). He considered them as mere trifles but collected and revised them throughout his life (Petrarch). Despite its rigor, the sonnet has evolved over the years, adopting various rhyming patterns. The Petrarchan sonnet generally adheres to a specific rhyme scheme: abba abba cdc dcd. The first eight lines, known as the octave, typically maintain the abba abba pattern, while the last six lines, referred to as the sestet, often follow different patterns like cde cde, cde ced, or cdc dee.
The Petrarchan sonnet is characterized by each line having the same number of syllables, which is typically eleven or seven as established by Petrarch. Over time, variations of this rhyming scheme have been introduced. In a Petrarchan sonnet, the octave and sestet serve specific functions. The role of the octave is to present a problem, express a desire, reflect on reality, or introduce a situation that causes doubt or conflict within the speaker. This is typically achieved by introducing the problem in the first quatrain (a unified four-line section) and further developing it in the second quatrain.
Typically, in a sonnet, the ninth line acts as a shift between the octet and the sestet. This shift is also known as a Volta and is indicated by words such as but, yet, and, or and yet. The sestet serves to comment on the problem presented or propose a solution. The rhyme scheme in Petrarch’s poem follows abba abba cdcdcd. The Volta occurs in the ninth line, expressed as “And yet I live! Myself I grieve and scorn.” This line serves as an exclamation of exasperation.
Throughout the first part of the sonnet, he expresses his love, but then it seems like he gives up. Despite the immense pain he feels without her reciprocated love, he is still alive. Gli Occhi Di Ch’ Io Parlai those eyes, beneath which my passionate rapture arose, the arms, hands, feet, the beauty that once captivated my own soul and transported it into a world of dreams, the hair’s radiant tresses with golden glows, and the gentle brilliance of her angelic smile that transformed this earth into a heavenly isle, have now turned to mere dust, insignificant dust devoid of consciousness.
And yet I continue to exist! I mourn and mock myself, left in darkness without the light that I loved in vain, adrift in a storm on a abandoned ship; the source of all my passionate expressions is dead, the channel of my thoughts is dry and my sorrowful harp can only produce painful notes. -Petrarch Although many sonnet writers follow the basic structure of the Petrarchan sonnet, they often do not limit themselves to his exact rhyme scheme. Some use iambic hexameter, while others do not adhere to the octave-sestet division created by the traditional rhyme scheme (English Sonnet).
According to Petrarch, no proper Italian sonnet will have more than five different rhymes. In contrast, the English sonnet, also known as the Shakespearean sonnet, consists of three quatrains of four lines and a couplet of two lines. The couplet often brings about a sudden change in theme. Shakespeare altered the sonnet form by reducing the number of words with identical rhyme, thus changing the overall meaning or argument conveyed by the poem (Booth 123).
The concluding couplet in English sonnets tends to have an epigrammatic ending, often contradicting the rest of the sonnet’s affirmation (Cruttwell 5-6). Unlike Petrarch, the English sonnet typically has ten syllables per line instead of seven or eleven. Shakespeare, in a way, introduced a new type of sonnet that still retains some elements from the Italian form but has lost a crucial aspect.
The disappearance of the clear division between octave and sestet meant that the tendency to write the poem in two sentence units was no longer present. Instead, a short lyric poem with three stanzas and a concluding couplet emerged, resulting in four units to a poem rather than two. Sir Thomas Wyatt and Henry Howard, earl of Surrey, introduced the sonnet, along with other Italian verse forms, to England in the 16th century. This introduction of new forms led to the great Elizabethan flowering of lyric poetry, marking the peak of the sonnet’s English popularity during that period.
The English sonnet was developed by the Elizabethans as they adapted the Italian form to a language with fewer rhymes. It consists of three quatrains, each with its own rhyme scheme, followed by a rhymed couplet (Sonnet). The rhyme scheme of the English sonnet is abab cdcd efef gg. Compared to the Petrarchan sonnet, it is a less demanding form due to its greater number of rhymes. However, the difficulty lies in the couplet, which must succinctly summarize the impact of the preceding quatrains like a Greek epigram (Frye 14).
The following sonnet, by Shakespeare, demonstrates the classic English sonnet rhyme scheme of abab cdcd efef gg. “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?” “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?” You are more beautiful and moderate. Harsh winds disturb the beloved flower buds of May, And the length of summer is too short. Occasionally, the sun shines too intensely, And frequently its golden complexion fades; And every beauty eventually declines, Due to chance or the natural course of change; But your everlasting summer will not fade.
Nor shall Death brag thou wander’st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou grow’st:
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
Shakespeare establishes the central theme of immortality in the first twelve lines of the sonnet. The poem is filled with deep emotions, expressing his profound love for this woman. Through his poetry, he hopes to preserve her essence for eternity.
The last two lines (couplet) indicate that as long as men can breathe or eyes can see, this sonnet will endure and provide life to the subject. This suggests that she will live on as long as this sonnet is preserved. Both the Petrarchan and English sonnet forms have remained in use, fulfilling specific purposes. The Petrarchan form is often utilized for individual, standalone sonnets. In contrast, the English form is typically employed for sonnet sequences. Poets such as Milton, Wordsworth, and Hopkins favor the Petrarchan form, while writers like Drayton or Shakespeare opt for the English form for their sonnets (Cruttwell 9).
Some poets, like Sidney and Donne, create their own poetry by combining elements from both forms. They use a mixture of the Italian form (abba abba cdcd ee) and the English form (abbaba cdcdd eee). According to Booth (6), the Italian form is associated with dignity and solemnity, while the English form is seen as lighter and more graceful. The Italian form is often favored for religious themes, as seen in Donne’s works. Although Donne’s use of the English form is less common, it still follows the pattern of five rhymes or less.
AIR AND ANGELS TWICE or thrice had I loved thee, Before I knew thy face or name; So in a voice, so in a shapeless flame Angels affect us oft, and worshipp’d be. Still when, to where thou wert, I came, Some lovely glorious nothing did I see. But since my soul, whose child love is, Takes limbs of flesh, and else could nothing do, More subtle than the parent is Love must not be, but take a body too; And therefore what thou wert, and who, I bid Love ask, and now That it assume thy body, I allow, And fix itself in thy lip, eye, and brow. -Donne(Donne)
In both Milton’s and Wordsworth’s works, there is a use of celebratory occasions to depict epiphanies. Wordsworth, specifically, employs an abba abba cdcdcd rhyme scheme in his poem. His piece focuses on the epiphany of nature and the impact of human interference on it, rather than being purely celebratory. The World Is Too Much With Us illustrates how we constantly engage in obtaining and spending, consequently neglecting our own abilities. We fail to appreciate the beauty of nature as we have given ourselves entirely to materialistic pursuits. The poem highlights the Sea, which exposes itself to the moon, and the winds that will relentlessly howl throughout the day. These elements can be compared to dormant flowers, as they are now gathered together.
For everything, including this, we are disinterested; it does not move us. –Great God! I would rather be a Pagan raised in an obsolete belief; thus, I could, while standing on this pleasant meadow, catch glimpses that would alleviate my sorrow; I could see Proteus emerging from the sea or hear old Triton blow his coiled horn. -Wordsworth(Brians) The sonnet form has always been, and still remains, particularly in comparison to other forms, the preferred form for writing love poetry. Even after Petrarch’s death in 1374, the sonnet continued to be popular, even centuries after its introduction to the English language. This alone serves as evidence of the sonnet’s resilience. It simply needs to adapt slightly every few hundred years.
