Sonnet meaning | Sonnet history | forms

Sonnets : history and forms

So, what is a sonnet?

The word “sonnet” comes from the Italian word sonetto, which means “a little sound or song." Traditionally, the sonnet is a fourteen-line poem written in iambic pentameter, employing one of several predetermined rhyme schemes and adhering to a tightly structured thematic organization which employs a volta, or a shift, at a predetermined point in the sonnet.

Two basic sonnet forms provide the models from which all other sonnets are formed:

1. The Petrarchan sonnet.
2. The Shakespearean sonnet.

The Petrarchan sonnet

The original and most common sonnet is the Petrarchan, or Italian, sonnet. It’s named after the Italian poet Francesco Petrarca, better known in the English language as Petrarch, and it is divided into two stanzas: the octave (which is the first eight lines) followed by the answering sestet (or the final six lines). The tightly woven rhyme scheme, abba abba cde cde or cdc dcd (or some other variant), is suited for the Italian language, which is rich in rhyming words (although there are many great examples of Petrarchan sonnets written in English).

 In the first eight lines, or the octave, the Petrarchan sonnet presents an argument, observation, question, or something that can be answered, so the turn (or volta) occurs between the eighth and ninth lines.

Then the sestet - those final six lines - provides the counter argument, clarification, refutation, or whatever answer is required by the octave.

 Sir Thomas Wyatt, who was an English poet (among other things), introduced the Petrarchan sonnet to England in the early sixteenth century. His famous translations of Petrarch’s sonnets, along with his own sonnets, quickly drew attention to this poetic form.

Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, was a contemporary of Wyatt’s, and his translations of Petrarch are considered more faithful to the originals, even though they aren’t considered to have the same auditory quality as Wyatt’s.

 Howard and Wyatt also modified the Petrarchan sonnet form, giving the literary world the structure that became known as the Shakespearean sonnet. This structure lends itself much better to the English language, which is rhyme-poor when compared with the Italian language.

The Shakespearean Sonnet

That brings us to the second major type of sonnet, the Shakespearean, or English, or sometimes Elizabethan, sonnet; it follows a different set of rules, consisting of three quatrains -- or set of four lines -- and a couplet following the rhyme scheme abab cdcd efef gg.

 The third quatrain sometimes begins with the volta, or the volta may occur in the ending couplet. Either way, the couplet at the end plays a pivotal role, usually providing a conclusion, amplification, or even refutation of the previous three stanzas, often in a surprising or particularly insightful way.

Though Shakespeare’s sonnets are perhaps the best-known examples of the English sonnet, the 17th century poet John Milton (and yes,he’s the same one who wrote Paradise Lost) made some important changes to the Petrarchan sonnet form, creating another type of English sonnet known as Miltonic.

 Milton used a Petrarchan rhyme scheme -- ABBA ABBA CDE CDE -- but he introduced enjambment to the sonnet form,which is the continuation of a sentence past the end of a line or stanza.

He also ran the octave and sestet together, so that the volta sort of evolves slowly after the 8th line rather than having a more abrupt shift. Milton also expanded the sonnet category from “love poem” to include moral and political issues. The Spenserian sonnet was invented by the 16th century English poet Edmund Spenser, and it takes its structure from the English/Shakespearean sonnet in that it contains three quatrains and a couplet. It’s different in that item plays a series of “couplet links” between quatrains, with a a rhyme scheme like this: abab bcbc cdcd ee.

This interweaving of the quatrains has the effect of putting less pressure on the final couplet to resolve the argument, observation, or question in the quatrains. There are several types of sonnet groupings, including the sonnet sequence. A sonnet sequence is a series of linked sonnets dealing with a unified subject.

 Within the sonnet sequence, poets have devised various structures or constraints such as the corona (or crown) and sonnet redoublé. In the corona, the last line of the initial sonnet acts as the first line of the next, so that the sonnets are linked together by these lines, and the last sonnet’s final line repeats the first line of the initial sonnet. La Corona by John Donne is composed of seven sonnets structured this way. 

The sonnet redoublé is made up of 15 sonnets; the first 14 form a perfect corona, and the 15th sonnet is composed of the 14 linking lines in order. The sonnet, including sonnet sequences, continues to engage modern poets. However, it’s worth noting that modern poets experiment so extensively with form and theme that a modern sonnet can often only be identified by the fact that it has 14 lines or even by name only.

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