Introduction

The sonnet is one of the most enduring and influential poetic patterns in the English language. The form's relatively short length (14 lines) and intricate rhyming structure has inspired poets as diverse as Dante, Shakespeare, Spenser, Rilke, Auden, Dylan Thomas and Elizabeth Bishop. One of the sonnet's greatest virtues is its ability to force the poet to use condensed language in a lyrical structure . The form's limitations, instead of being seen as a disadvantage, should be seen as an opportunity to refine and deepen your thoughts. As Wordsworth said in his famous poem:

Nuns fret not at their convent's narrow room Nuns fret not at their convent's narrow room And hermits are contented with their cells; And students with their pensive citadels; Maids at the wheel, the weaver at his loom, Sit blithe and happy; bees that soar for bloom, High as the highest Peak of Furness-fells, Will murmur by the hour in foxglove bells: In truth the prison, into which we doom Ourselves, no prison is: and hence for me, In sundry moods, 'twas pastime to be bound Within the Sonnet's scanty plot of ground; Pleased if some Souls (for such there needs must be) Who have felt the weight of too much liberty, Should find brief solace there, as I have found. --by William Wordsworth

History

The word sonnet derives the Italian word sonneto which means "little song." The earliest sonnets date from about 1200, and were probably sung as expressions of romantic love in Italian courtyards. The 14-line form was popularized by Petrarch in the 14th century with his work "Canzoniere" a sequence of 366 poems, most of which were dedicated to an idealized lover. Petrarch's work influence many European writers such as Dante and Boccaccio and eventually spread to England influencing Chaucer.

By Shakespeare's time, the English version of the Sonnet had diverged slightly from the Italian form breaking into three quatrains and a final couplet rather than the octave, sestet structure of the Italian version. Both varieties usually contain a shift in tone, stance or viewpoint , called a volta, after the 8th line, and sometimes in the final couplet in the Shakespearean version.

In the early Renaissance, the sonnet was primarily used as an expression of courtly love, but by the late Renaissance, it had evolved to encompass passionate religious, philosophical and political themes.

Contemporary usage

Many contemporary poets still use the sonnet structure occasionally, although few write exclusively in this form. The sonnet's relatively short length and ability to create tension between narrative and lyricism is well suited to a culture that values brevity and storytelling. However, some poets find the iambic foot and fixed rhyme scheme too forced for contemporary usage.

Advantages of writing in the sonnet form

The sonnet is a wonderful vehicle to explore shifts in tone, viewpoint or argument. It allows the poet to develop a position or mood in the first eight lines and then shift to a different mood or position in the last part of the poem. The structure's ability to develop a story is offset by the musical nature of the rhyme scheme creating an interesting tension between narrative and lyricism.

Objectives

By the end of this lesson you should be able to:

name the number of lines in a sonnet

identify two types of sonnet

know what the term "volta" means