The sonnet

The sonnet
Performer - Culture & Literature
Marina Spiazzi, Marina Tavella,
Margaret Layton © 2012
The sonnet
1. The sonnet
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Introduced into England at the beginning of the 16th century.
From Italy.
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Petrarchan
Two types of sonnet
Elizabethan
Shakespearean
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The sonnet
2. Petrarchan sonnet
Voi ch'ascoltate in rime sparse il suono
di quei sospiri ond'io nudriva 'l core
in sul mio primo giovenile errore
quand'era in parte altr'uom da quel ch'i' sono,
del vario stile in ch'io piango et ragiono
fra le vane speranze e 'l van dolore,
ove sia chi per prova intenda amore,
spero trovar pieta, nonche perdono.
A
B
B
A
Ma ben veggio or si come al popol tutto
favola fui gran tempo, onde sovente
di me medesmo meco mi vergogno;
et del mio vaneggiar vergogna e 'l frutto,
e 'l pentersi, e 'l conoscer chiaramente
che quanto piace al mondo e breve sogno
C
D
E
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The sonnet
2. Petrarchan sonnet
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An octave or two quatrains rhyming ABBAABBA
The first quatrain introduces the problem; the second
quatrain develops it:
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turning point at the end of
the 8th line;
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the 9th line is sometimes
introduced by words like:
and, if, so, but, yet.
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The sonnet
2. Petrarchan sonnet
The octave has the purpose to:
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introduce a problem (the poet describes his being struck with
the sight of his woman);
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present a situation that causes
either doubt or conflict in the
poet.
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The sonnet
2. Petrarchan sonnet
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The beginning of the sestet is known as the volta, and it
introduces a pronounced change in tone in the sonnet.
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The sestet’s purpose is to make a comment on the
problem or to apply a solution to it.
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The sonnet
3. Sir Thomas Wyatt
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The first poet to introduce the sonnet into England
together with the Earl of Surrey.
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Source for his poetry: the Italian model established by
Petrarch.
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Translations from Petrach.
not mere translations but adaptation of the Italian
sonnet to the English cultural world. (FORM AND
CONTENT)
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The sonnet
SIR THOMAS WYATT - I Find no Peace
I find no peace, and all my war is done.
A
I fear and hope. I burn and freeze like ice.
B
I fly above the wind, yet can I not arise;
B
And nought I have, and all the world I seize on. A
That loseth nor locketh holdeth me in prison
And holdeth me not—yet can I scape no wise—
Nor letteth me live nor die at my device,
And yet of death it giveth me occasion.
Without eyen I see, and without tongue I plain.
I desire to perish, and yet I ask health.
I love another, and thus I hate myself.
I feed me in sorrow and laugh in all my pain;
Likewise displeaseth me both life and death,
And my delight is causer of this strife.
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The sonnet
4. Elizabethan sonnet
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Three quatrains rhyming ABAB CDCD EFEF;
a couplet rhyming EE;
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The sonnet
4. Elizabethan sonnet
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The first quatrain introduces an idea:
When my love swears that she is made of truth
I do believe her, though I know she lies,
That she might think me some untutor‘d youth,
Unlearned in the world's false subtleties.
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The second quatrain complicates it:
Thus vainly thinking that she thinks me young,
Although she knows my days are past the best,
Simply I credit her false speaking tongue:
On both sides thus is simple truth suppress’d.
(W. Shakespeare, Sonnet 138)
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The sonnet
4. Elizabethan sonnet
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The third quatrain complicates it still further:
But wherefore says she not she is unjust?
And wherefore say not I that I am old?
O, love’s best habit is in seeming trust,
And age in love loves not to have years told.
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The final epigrammatic couplet resolves the whole thing:
Therefore I lie with her and she with me,
And in our faults by lies we flatter’d be.
(W. Shakespeare, Sonnet 138)
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The sonnet
5. Table of comparison
Petrarchan sonnet
Shakespearean sonnet
14 lines of hendecasyllables
14 lines of iambic pentameters
Division into 2 sections:
the octave presents a problem
or situation and the sestet (or 2
tercets) solves
or clarifies the situation
Division into 4 sections:
3 quatrains that present
a problem or situation and
a couplet that solves or
summarises the problem
Rhyme scheme of ABABABAB
or ABBAABBA for the octave;
CDECDE or CDCDEE
for the sestet
Rhyme scheme of
ABAB quatrain I
CDCD quatrain II
EFEF quatrain III
GG couplet
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The sonnet
6. Themes
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Expression of Courtly love
To write sonnets was to love and to love was to write sonnets
Love: Between passion and pain
the relationship between woman and lover
= lord and vassal
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Paradox: the poet desires a lady but at the same time he hopes
she will not surrender.
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 platonic ideas: do we love a real person or the idea that
person represents??
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The sonnet
6. Themes
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Woman: idealised angel like woman, beautiful but cruel
Most ofthese sonnets are addressed to the mythical lady of the
Petrachan tradition:
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a woman who is both real and ideal
Full of the highest spiritual and physical qualities
This convention was particularly dear to English because of the
veneration of theVirgin Queen.
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The sonnet
7. Philip Sidney
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Typical Renaissance man: knight, court poet,
educated man (attended Oxford university),
ambassador
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Works:
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The Difence of Poetry (essay)
Arcadia  influence of the classics
Astrophel and Stella 1582
The sonnet
7. Astrophil and Stella
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Astro/phil and Stella
Star
lover/Philip =
Astrophil is Stella’s lover!
Very modern: from the title we understand it is a
dialogue between the lover and his woman
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The sonnet
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