The history of the Sonnet form
The Sonnet as a literary form developed through the thirteenth and the fourteenth century in Italy with the help of Sonneteers such as Giacomo da Lentini , Guittone d’Arezzo , Dante , Cavelcanti and most importantly Petrarch . It also grew popular in France before it was brought to England and modified by Thomas Wyatt and the Earl of Surrey , Henry Howard in the Sixteenth century . Wyatt and Howard , though started off by translating Petrarch’s works , soon remodelled the metrical form of the Petrarchan Sonnet to suit the rhythmic structure of the English language . Unlike the Petrarchan sonnets , consisting of an octave ( eight lines rhyming as abba-abba ) and a sestet ( six lines rhyming as cde-cde ) the English sonnets started having three quatrains and a couplet ( usually rhyming as abab-cdcd-efef-gg ) .
The arrival of Shakespeare
The English sonnet form was already nourished by poets like Sir Phillip Sidney , Edmund Spenser and Micheal Drayton when Shakespeare arrived in the literary scene and Sonneteers such as Samuel Daniel and Fulke Greville were his contemporaries . Even then , for the posterity the English sonnet form is usually known as the Shakespearean sonnet and with good reason because it is with the creative and imaginative touch of Shakespeare that the English sonnet form materialized to it’s full potential . Following the Petrarchan tradition , Shakespeare’s sonnets deal with a beloved as the source of inspiration , but unlike Sir Phillip Sidney who called his art a mere copy of the beauty of the beloved , Shakespeare claimed that his poetry added perfection to the natural beauty of the beloved .
” For to thy sensual fault I bring in sense
Thy adverse party is thy advocate ”
Most other Elizabethan sonnet cycles deal with a theme without further growth . But the Shakespearean sonnet cycle registers the progressive qualities of a narrative . Shakespeare’s art as a dramatist influences his skills as a Sonneteer as he builds his characters ( for example : the lover and the ” dark lady ” ) , who grow across the span of 154 sonnets . Also by making a largely homoerotic bonding between two men in the axis of his sonnet cycle , he creates a unique precedence . He also overturns the convention of Petrarchan conceits that standardized certain terms of comparison in sonnets such as sonnet 130
” My mistress’s eyes are nothing like the sun
Coral is far more red than her lips red ”
- Basics One Should Know Before Investing In CryptocurrencyTrying to get into cryptocurrency but don’t know where to start? Let me show you the ropes and help you make heads and tails of all the technical buzzwords you will hear whenever you open a millennial’s podcast on cryptocurrency. 1. Digital Currency: Unlike traditional currencies, Cryptocurrency exists purely in digital form, meaning it’s notContinue reading “Basics One Should Know Before Investing In Cryptocurrency”
- 5 Books To Change Your LifeAtomic Habbits As the saying goes,“ We are the animals of habits”.This book precisely shows how much we can achieve in our personal lives as well as in professional lives just by making some changes in our daily life habits. This book is a gem if you wanna change your habits and get 1% betterContinue reading “5 Books To Change Your Life”
- Why are there so many tech support scammers in India ?We often see scammers in India being caught by the police running multi-million dollar schemes , yet the problem doesn’t seem to go away . As one is cut down , more take it’s place and continue the process . According to independent research , around 50-60% of all techsupport scammers are Indians , soContinue reading “Why are there so many tech support scammers in India ?”
- An introduction to Wuthering heights by Emily Brontë“If all else perished, and he remained, I should still continue to be; and if all else remained, and he were annihilated, the universe would turn to a mighty stranger.” Wuthering heights , Emily Brontë Wuthering Heights written by Emily Brontë and published first in 1847,is considered to be a classic of English Literature. When weContinue reading “An introduction to Wuthering heights by Emily Brontë”
- The Pre-Raphaelite movement and it’s artThe pre Raphaelite movement began in 1848 as an organisation of painters who called themselves Pre-Raphaelites . The occasion of the founding of the Pre-Raphaelite brotherhood was a book of engravings which Holman Hunt and D.G. Rosetti saw at the house of Edward Millais , of certain Italian frescoes . As the name suggests ,Continue reading “The Pre-Raphaelite movement and it’s art”
Conclusion
With Shakespeare the English sonnet form achieved its full dramatic potential with the couplet often giving it a symmetrical effect . He brought different hues to the highly conventional format of the Sonnet . His witty puns and the sense of irony along with a complex view of love , art and life brought multiple layers of meaning within the economy of fourteen lines .
ONEWORLD 