The Sonnet

The Sonnet

Explore aspects of the sonnet tradition through reference to a range

of material you have studied

The word ‘sonnet’ comes from the Italian word ‘sonnetto’ meaning

little sound or song. A sonnet is a special type of poem. The sonnet

is always 14 lines long and usually expresses the poets’ personal

feelings or thoughts; most often connected with love or death, which

are two of the most basic aspects of human existence. The poem

generally uses rhyme and metre to organise the poet’s ideas in a

formal way. There are several different types of sonnets which all

accomplish this in a slightly different style.

The Italian or Petrarchan sonnet was originally developed around 1350

by Petrarch, an Italian poet (1304-1374).

Petrarch had fallen madly in love with a woman named Laura, but she

was a married woman and refused to become his mistress. Petrarch wrote

poetry expressing the idea of courtly love and conveying his own

misery and his slavery to the love of Laura; a love denied. His verses

contain accusations about the fickleness of love, the timeless quality

of art and the hopelessness and devotion of eternal love.

The Italian sonnet is divided into two sections by two different

groups of rhyming sounds. The first eight lines are called the octave.

This has two four line units that rhyme in the same way. A b b a, a b

b a.

The remaining six lines are called the sestet and can have either two

or three rhyming sounds arranged in a variety of ways: cdcdcd, cddcdc,

cdecde, cdeced, or cdcedc.

The poem is clearly divided into two sections by the two differing

rhyme groups. The change from one rhyme group to another signifies a

change in subject matter. It can also be said that the octet prese...

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pain’ the word ‘long’ is again repeated to emphasize the time he has

been away and the suffering he has experienced as a Black in a ‘White’

world. The tightness, compression and discipline of the sonnet form

does not disguise but rather emphasises his love for Jamaica and his

suffering since he left.

In conclusion therefore, the sonnet has developed from its traditional

form albeit still retaining some of the aspects Petrarch may have once

used centuries beforehand such as an octave/sestet structure. It was

originally a formal love ‘song’ with high ideals and a rigid format.

Shakespeare transformed it and made the sonnet more accessible and fun

for the common man to enjoy. The sonnet has since evolved further and

can be used in a wide variety of forms and for an even wider range of

subject matter and can be easily read by audiences world-wide.