The sonnet, a name derived from the Italian son-netto, meaning song, is a 14-line poetic form that developed near the close of the Middle Ages. Italian Giacomo da Lentino (1188-1240) and other members of the court of Frederick II (1194-1250) are known as the inventors of the form, and Provencal courtly love poetry was an important influence. The sonnet increased in popularity throughout Europe during the renaissance. Many writers sought to model their verses upon those of another Italian, Francesco petrarch (1304-74), who created what is known as the Petrarchan sonnet.
A sonnet is typified by three distinct forms, the Italian form being the most common. Developed from the Sicilian strambotto (meaning a Sicilian peasant song), this verse form consists of two quatrains and two tercets. In the Italian sonnet, the octave develops one thought, and the sestet grows out of the octave’s thought, varying and completing it as if the sestet were a response to the octave, with a possible change in point of view. The usual rhyme scheme is abba abba (the octave) and cde cde (the sestet). The octave may be known as two quatrains if printed in quatrains, and the sestet may be known as two tercets.
Following the introduction of the Italian sonnet into English poetry by Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey (1517-47), and its further development by Sir Thomas Wyatt (1503-42), two other major forms developed. They are the Shakespearean sonnet (named after William shakespeare) and the Spenserian sonnet (named after Edmund Spenser). These English sonnet forms were conceived during the reign (1509-47) of Henry VIII and came into their own during the reign (1558-1603) of Elizabeth I.
The Shakespearean sonnet is written in iambic pentameter and consists of three quatrains concluded by a rhyming couplet. The rhyme scheme is abab cdcd efefgg. Different from the Shakespearean sonnet in its rhyme scheme is the Spenserian sonnet, which rhymes abab bcbc cdcd ee. The key distinguishing feature of this form is interlocking quatrains, or enveloped quatrains, with the repetition of the rhyme from one quatrain’s last line to the next quatrain’s first line.
Both sonnet forms typically function as miniature essays, whose main points are arranged according to their respective rhyme scheme. In Shakespearean sonnets, for example, each quatrain has a rhetorical function and a poetic function. The first quatrain presents the argument and premise that lead to the theme expressed in the second quatrain. The third quatrain presents a paradox (the dialectic) that furthers the argument and theme. The rhyming couplet acts as the conclusion to the argument and binds together the preceding three quatrains, making sense of them. Thus, the Shakespearean sonnet resembles a poetic essay in three paragraphs with a two-line conclusion.
Although the sonnets’ rhyme schemes vary according to the tastes of the particular poet and the limitations of the language the poem is written in, the verses generally follow the established forms and argumentative patterns.
Many poets wrote sonnets not as stand-alone pieces but as parts of a larger whole. Such collections, which are arranged according to a central theme, are called sonnet sequences. Three famous sequences are Petrarch’s Canzoniere (Rime), du Bellay’s L’Olive, and Shakespeare’s Sonnets. Many more sequences were written during the Renaissance, and many have been written since. As with most sequences, these collections revolve around love and the delights, trials, joys, and sadness of the poem’s speaker.
Numerous poets from the Middle Ages and the Renaissance continue to be celebrated as masters of the sonnet form. Well-known sonneteers include Shakespeare and Petrarch, as mentioned, as well as Pierre de ronsard and Joachim du bellay of France; Gottfried August Burger and Johann Wolfgang von goethe of Germany; Luis de gCngora y argote and Juan Boscan of Spain; and Lmz Vaz de camOes of Portugal.
Works of Sonnets and Sonnet Sequences
Bellay, Joachim du. Ordered Text: The Sonnet Sequences of Du Bellay. Edited by Richard A. Katz. New York: Peter Lang, 1985.
Hollander, John, ed. Sonnets: From Dante to the Present. New York: Knopf, 2001.
Ronsard, Pierre De. Songs and Sonnets of Pierre de Ronsard. New York: Hyperion Books, 1985.
Wordsworth, William. Sonnet Series and Itinerary Poems, 1820-1845. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 2004.
Works about Sonnets and Sonnet Sequences
Bermann, Sandra L. The Sonnet Over Time: A Study in the Sonnets of Petrarch, Shakespeare, and Baudelaire. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1988.
Oppenheimer, Paul. The Birth of the Modern Mind: Self, Consciousness, and the Invention of the Sonnet. New York: Oxford University Press, 1989.
