Sonnet

The term sonnet is derived from the Provençal word sonet and the Italian word sonetto, both meaning little song. By the thirteenth century, it had come to signify a poem of fourteen lines following a strict rhyme scheme and logical structure. These have changed during its history.

The Italian Sonnet

Main article: Petrarchan sonnet

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The Italian sonnet was probably invented by Giacomo da Lentini, head of the Sicilian School under Frederick II. Guittone d'Arezzo rediscovered it and brought it to Tuscany where he adapted it to his language when he founded the Neo-Sicilian School (1235–1294). He wrote almost 300 sonnets. Other Italian poets of the time, including Dante Alighieri (1265–1321) and Guido Cavalcanti (c. 1250–1300) wrote sonnets, but the most famous early sonneteer was Francesco Petrarca (1304–1374).

Related Topics:
Giacomo da Lentini - Sicilian School - Frederick II - Guittone d'Arezzo - Tuscany - 1235 - 1294 - Dante Alighieri - 1265 - 1321 - Guido Cavalcanti - 1250 - 1300 - Francesco Petrarca - 1304 - 1374

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In its original form, the Italian sonnet was divided into an octave followed by a sestet. The octave stated a proposition and the sestet stated its solution with a clear break between the two. Though Giacomo da Lentini octave rhymed a-b-a-b, a-b-a-b it became later a-b-b-a, a-b-b-a. For the sestet there were two different possibilities, c-d-e-c-d-e and c-d-c-c-d-c. In time, other variants on this rhyming scheme were introduced. Typically, the ninth line created a "turn" or volta, which signaled the change in the topic or tone of the sonnet.

Related Topics:
Octave - Sestet - Giacomo da Lentini

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The first known sonnets in English, written by Sir Thomas Wyatt and Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, used this Italian scheme, as did sonnets by later English poets including John Milton, Thomas Gray, William Wordsworth and Elizabeth Barrett Browning. However, these poets tended to ignore the strict logical structure of proposition and solution.

Related Topics:
Thomas Wyatt - Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey - John Milton - Thomas Gray - William Wordsworth - Elizabeth Barrett Browning

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This example, On His Being Arrived to the Age of Twenty-three by Milton, gives a sense of the Italian Form:

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:How soon hath Time, the subtle thief of youth, (a)

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:Stolen on his wing my three and twentieth year! (b)

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:My hasting days fly on with full career, (b)

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:But my late spring no bud or blossom shew'th. (a)

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:Perhaps my semblance might deceive the truth, (a)

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:That I to manhood am arrived so near, (b)

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:And inward ripeness doth much less appear, (b)

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:That some more timely-happy spirits indu'th. (a)

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:Yet be it less or more, or soon or slow, (c)

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:It shall be still in strictest measure even (d)

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:To that same lot, however mean or high, (e)

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:Toward which Time leads me, and the will of Heaven. (d)

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:All is, if I have grace to use it so, (c)

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:As ever in my great Task-master's eye. (e)

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In addition to the rhyme scheme, English poets usually use iambic pentameter to structure their sonnets as Milton has done here. This is a rough equivalent to the hendecasyllable or Alexandrines usually used for Petrarchan sonnets in romance languages such as Italian, French and Spanish.

Related Topics:
Iambic pentameter - Hendecasyllable - Alexandrine - Romance languages - Italian - French - Spanish

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