The Two Types of Sonnet: Shakespearean and Petrachen
A sonnet is usually a poem with fourteen lines, which deals with one
idea or emotion. The rhyming pattern is usually ABBA ABBA ABBA and
then a rhyming couplet at CC. It has ten syllables per line. There are
two main types of sonnet Shakespearean (English) and Petrachen
(Italian). Sonnet means ‘Little song’ in Italian. Sonnets originated
in Italy during the Italian renaissance by a man called Pertrach
however they only became popular in England during the 14th century.
The real meaning of writing a sonnet is to create beauty and
communicate meaning within a tightly structured format. It is to work
within self-imposed restrictions to discover just how much one can
accomplish. Some famous sonneteers include William Shakespeare, who
wrote in the Elizabethan period, Michael Drayton, who wrote in the
Jacobean times, and Christina Rosseti who wrote much later in the 19th
century.
The first poem that I’m going to examine is by Elizabeth Barrett
Browning. It is called “How do I love thee”. The rhyming pattern is
what is known as Petrarchan i.e. ABBA ABBA CDCDCD. It’s made up of two
quatrains and a sextet. Every single line has ten syllables. The
whole poem is based around the opening rhetorical question:
“How much do I love thee?”
It then proceeds to answer the question using extreme language while
continuing to make it seem like a conversation. We are not told whom
it is exactly about but we can only assume that it is about her lover.
The poem is about how great her love is for her lover, it is more of a
spiritual love then a physical one.
She constantly links back to idea of God;
“If God chooses”
This shows love is eternal, pure and spiritual. It is also handing
control over to god; acknowledging his omnipotence. Elizabeth
Barrett-Browning uses a lot of beautiful imagery in this poem.
the poem is that all she wants is some happiness and to be able to
The speaker is supposed to be writing a love poem to his wife, but the unmistakable criticism he places on her makes one wonder if this is really love he speaks of. It may not be a "traditional" love story, but he does not need to degrade his wife in this manner. Reading through this poem the first time made us feel defensive and almost angry at the speaker for criticizing his wife so badly. Although it is flattering to be the subject of a poem, we do not think many women would like to be written about in this way.
I personally loved everything that this poem stood for. I liked that this poem had two average people at its center. They were not young or insanely beautiful, but they still showed how amazing love can be and how love goes beyond everything. When it comes down to it love has no gender, age, race, or time it is just about humans loving other humans. In this week’s chapter it is discussed how romance itself has a huge cultural impact and this poem definitely connects with this idea. This poem also follows the cliche of love. The way that love is blinding and will conquer all is presented in a real and believable way, but then it can also be considered unrelatable for some because how romance is set up to be and how high the standards are for true love. Furthermore, I like the idea of love going beyond age, beauty, and time but realistically for most people they will never experience a love so intense. People can though understand how what is portrayed in the media is not how everyone experiences love and that people who differ from this unrealistic standard can still be in love in their own intense beautiful way.
Both Sonnet 43 by Elizabeth Barret Browning and Sonnet 116 by William Shakespeare delve into the passion of fervent love. In many ways these two sonnets can be compared and contrasted based upon poetic devices such as word choice, figurative language, and imagery.
The first image of her love tells us that her love has no bounds and
The conceit, characterization and tone of the one hundred and forty third sonnet make this particular sonnet interesting to analyze. The collection of sonnets was written by William Shakespeare around the mid-1590s and published by Thomas Thorpe in 1609. “Sonnet 143” describes a woman who "sets down her babe and makes all swift dispatch." Her attention has been restrained by the idea of taking possession of a feathered creature that has run away (line 3). In this sonnet, Shakespeare creates a rivalry of role-play between a man in pursuit of a woman, who is compared to a housewife and a mother, and the love interest the woman in pursuing. The speaker is in desperate pursuit of the housewife, like a child who wishes to be pacified and kissed
of London. Maybe it is a genuine love poem to his mistress, a sort of
The poem's diction immerses the reader into the speaker's fantasy-like realm of love shared with his bride. He begins the poem with the first two lines, "It was many and many a year ago, / In a kingdom by the sea," much like the "once upon a time, in a faraway land" of fairytales. The couple lived with no other thought than to love one another and "loved with a love that was more than love" (9).
However as shown in the final stanza this poem is truly about the lost of someone dear to her and
Compare William Shakespeare’s Sonnets 12 and 73 William Shakespeare (1564-1616) wrote a group of 154 sonnets between 1592 and 1597, which were compiled and published under the title 'Shakespeare's Sonnets' in 1609. The 154 poems are divided into two groups, a larger set, consisting of sonnets 1-126 which are addressed by the poet to a dear young man, the smaller group of sonnets 127-154 address another persona, a 'dark lady'. The larger set of sonnets display a deliberate sequence, a sonnet cycle akin to that used a decade earlier by the English poet Phillip Sidney (1554-1586) in 'Astrophel and Stella'. The themes of love and infidelity are dominant in both sets of poems, in the larger grouping; these themes are interwoven with symbols of beauty, immortality, and the ravages of time. Lyrical speculations of poetry's power to maintain bonds of love and to revere the beloved can also be found in the larger collection of sonnets.
Sonnet 18 and Sonnet 130, by William Shakespeare, are two of the most well known Shakespeare sonnets. Both are similar in theme, however, the two poems are very much contradictory in style, purpose, and the muse to who Shakespeare is writing.
This sonnet appears to be another version of 153 rather than one of a series. These two sonnets, two renderings of the same ides, could either prove or disprove Shakespeare's authorship. Only twice did Shakespeare rewrite any of his sonnets, both 138 and 144 appear slightly modified in _The Passionate Pilgrim_. These are evidence of Shakespeare's rewritings, but the only problem is if one is out to prove the authorship on these grounds, over-revision remains a factor; that is, Shakespeare rewrote the two sonnets changing only a few words and not the entire sonnet. These seem to be the problems with citing Shakespeaare as their author, but equally disproving him as the author. If I were to argue for Shakespeare's authorship, I would correlate "the help of bath" with being an allusion to "The Wife of Bath's Tale" in Chaucer's _Canterbury Tales_. Shakespeare used Chaucer as a source in _A Midsummer Night's Dream_ (from "The Kinght's Tale" and "The Miller's Tale"), _Troilus and Cressida_ (from _Troilus and Criseyde) and _The Two Noble Kinsmen_ (from "The Knight's Tale"). Seeing that Shakespeare used Chaucer as a reference in the past for help, I suppose "the help of bath" could be a tribut to Chaucer and thus a possible source or allusion. But this does remain on unsubstantial grounds due to the possibility of it simply meaning a water-filled basin.
In our class we have been discussing sonnet cxxx. Many of my classmates believe that Shakespeare was saying that, although this girl is ugly, he still loves her. While others claim that he was not making any statements about her looks, but instead being realistic. It is my view that he was making a point of claiming that his girlfriend was a regular person and not a mythological goddess.
Through the form of sonnet, Shakespeare and Petrarch both address the subject of love, yet there are key contrasts in their style, structure, and in the manner, each approaches their subjects. Moreover, in "Sonnet 130," Shakespeare, in fact, parodies Petrarch's style and thoughts as his storyteller describes his mistress, whose "eyes are in no way as the sun" (Shakespeare 1918). Through his English poem, Shakespeare seems to mock the exaggerated descriptions expanded throughout Petrarch’s work by portraying the speaker’s love in terms that are characteristic of a flawed woman not a goddess. On the other hand, upon a review of "Sonnet 292" from the Canzoniere, through “Introduction to Literature and Arts,” one quickly perceives that Petrarch's work is full of symbolism. However, Petrarch’s utilization of resemblance and the romanticizing of Petrarch's female subject are normal for the Petrarchan style.
Lackluster love is the subject postulated in both sonnets, Petrarch 90 and Shakespeare 130. This is a love that endures even after beauteous love has worn off, or in Petrarch, a love that never was. The Petrarchan sonnet utilizes fantasy to describe love. It depicts love that is exaggerated and unrealistic. Shakespeare’s sonnet, on the other hand, is very sarcastic but it is more realistic as compared to the Petrarch 90. Petrarchan sonnets, also called Italian sonnets were the first sonnets to be written, and they have remained the most common sonnets (Hollander 28). They were named after the Italian poet Petrarch. Its structure takes the form of two stanzas, the first one an octave, in that, it has eight lines, and the next stanza is a sestet, meaning that it has six lines. The rhyme scheme suits the Italian language, which has the feature of being rhyme rich, and it, can take the forms of abbaabba, cdcdcd, or cdecde. These sonnets present an answerable charge in the first stanza, and a turn in the sestet. The sestet is the counter argument of the octave.