SONNET
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A FORM OF SONNET
Sonnet is among the most common form of poetry through the ages. The word sonnet has been derived from the Italian word “sonetto” which means a little sound. The word sonnet is particularly associated with the Italian poet Petrarch. In the thirteenth century, it was a poem of fourteen lines. It followed a set rhyme scheme and logical structure. However, the conventions associated with the sonnet have changed during its history. Today there are several different sonnet forms. The writers of sonnets are sometimes referred to as “sonneteers,” or “sonnet writers.” Traditionally, English poets used iambic pentameter while writing sonnets. Among these poets, Spenser and Shakespeare are notable (prominent, noteworthy, famous). Sonnets are particularly associated with love poetry. Love and faith are the two major subjects of sonnet. Shakespeare’s sonnets are some of the most renowned poems in English literature.
Sir Thomas Wyatt, Henry Howard and Earl of Surrey were the first to write sonnets in English. In other words, they introduced sonnets in English language. They wrote in Italian scheme. Their sonnets were chiefly the translations from the Italian of Petrarch and the French of Ronsard and others. It is believed that Wyatt was the person who introduced the sonnet into English, but the rhyme scheme, meter, and division into quatrains that now characterizes the English sonnet were given by Surrey.
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TYPES OF SONNET
1. Italian or Petrarchan sonnets
2. Shakespearean Sonnet
3. Spenserian Sonnet
(1) ITALIAN OR PETRARCHAN SONNETS
The italian or Petrarchan sonnet is named after the Italian poet, Francesco Petrarch (1304-1374). This type of sonnet was introduced into English poetry in the early 16th century by Sir Thomas Wyatt (1503-1542). In this type, its fourteen lines break into an octave (eight lines) which usually follows the rhymes scheme a-b-b-a-a-b-b-a. The second part of the poem is a sestet (six lines). Two variations (differences) can be seen in the rhyming scheme. They can be c-d-e-c-d-e OR C-d-c-d-c-d The Italian form is considered a bit simpler. It usually projects and develops a subject in the octave. The tension which is built up in the octave is released at the beginning of the sestet.
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For example;
Wyatt’s “Farewell Love and all thy laws forever.”
(2) SHAKESPEAREAN SONNET
The English or Shakespearean sonnet was first developed by Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey (1517-1547). It consists of three quatrains (four lines) and a couplet (two lines). This type of sonnet follows a-b-a-b-c-d-c-d-e-f-e-f-g-g rhyme scheme.
Shakespeare’s sonnets are written predominantly (mainly, mostly) in a meter called lambic pentameter, a rhyme scheme in which each sonnet line consists of ten syllables. The syllables are grouped into five pairs known as iambs or iambic feet. (An iamb is a metrical unit consisting of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable.)
Sonnet Structure
- A Shakespearean sonnet are consists of fourteen lines.
- Opening twelve lines are divided into three quatrains with four lines each.
- In the three quatrains, the poet introduces a theme or problem.
- The final two lines are called couplets In which the writer resolves the problem.
- abab cdcd efef is the rhyme scheme of the quatrains.
- The rhyme scheme of the couplets is gg.
To sum up, the Shakespearean sonnet has a wider range of possibilities. The first quatrains introduces an idea. The idea becomes complicated (Complex, difficult, dense, knotty, thorny, problematical) it in the second. The complicatedness increases still further in the third, and settles the whole thing in the final epigrammatic (short, concise, to the point) couplet.
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For Example;
Shakespeare’s Sonnet 116.
(3) SPENSERIAN SONNET:
The Spenserian sonnet is named after Edmund Spenser (1552-1599). Spenserian sonnet is very similar to the Shakespearean sonnet in form, though its rhyme scheme is slightly (a little) different in this sonnet, the rhyme scheme is, a-b-a-b, b-c-b-c, c-d-c-d, e-e.
Like a Petrarchan sonnet, in a Spenserian sonnet, the initial octave does not set up a problem nor the closing sestet answers.
John Milton, Thomas Gray, William Wordsworth, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, John Donne, George Herbert, Edmund Spenser, Philip Sidney and Dante Gabriel Rossetti are the other well-known names in the field of sonnet writing. In the 20th century, the names like Robert Frost, Edna st. Vincent Millay, E. E. Cummings, Wiliam Butler Yeats, Wilfred Owen and W. H Auden should be taken note of in sonnet writing.
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CONCLUSION
With the advent (arrival, start) of free verse (rhyme), the sonnet came to be seen as somewhat old-fashioned and fell out of use for a time among some schools of poets. However, a number of 20th-century poets, including Wilfred Owen, John Berryman, Edwin Morgan, Robert Frost, Edna St. Vincent Millay, E.E. Cummings, Jorge Luis Borges, Pablo Neruda, Joan Brossa, Rainer Maria Rilke, and Seamus Heaney continued employing the form. The advent ot the New Formalism movement in the United States has also contributed to contemporary (modern, current, up to date) interest in the sonnet.