Sonnet: Definition, Example and Significance

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Sonnet

      Originating from the Italian word sonetto, Sonnet is a type of lyrical poem in fourteen lines in iambic pentameter. The sonnet was created by Giacomo da Lentini, head of the Sicilian School under Emperor Frederick II. By the 13th century it signified a poem of fourteen, lines that follows a strict rhyme scheme and specific structure. The patterns in which the rhymed line-endings are arranged in a sonnet are called stanzas. In stanza, each line ending on the same rhyme is given the same alphabetic symbol. The stanzas in sonnet have some different names according to the number of lines consist in them: quatrains (4 lines), sestet (6 lines), octave (8 lines) and couplet (2 lines). Rhyme schemes of sonnets follow a few fixed patterns arranged according to the poet’s requirements. In sonnet, each line has 10 syllables. It has a specific rhyme scheme and a ‘volta’ or a specific turn. A simple grouping of syllables - some stressed, some unstressed, is called a foot. The iambic foot is an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable. Pentameter means there are five feet in the line. ‘Iambic Pentameter’ then, means a line of ten syllables, which alternates unstressed and stressed syllables according to the iambic rhythm. Generally, sonnets are divided into different groups based on the rhyme scheme they follow. The structure of sonnet in English is usually three quatrains and a concluding couplet with the rhyme scheme ABAB.CDCD.EFEF.GG. In Italian form the structure is an octave followed by a sestet with the rhyme scheme ABBA.ABBA.CDE.CDE.

      Italian or Petrarchan sonnet was introduced by an Italian poet Francesco Petrarch of 14th century. Sonnet was first introduced in English by Sir Thomas Wyatt and Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey in the middle of 16th century. They first used it in Italian scheme, but later on this scheme is modified by the early English sonneteers among whom Shakespeare is the leading figure in the Elizabethan period. It is for this reason that English sonnet is known both as Shakespearean sonnet or Elizabethan sonnet. Sonneteers in English other than Shakespeare are Edmund Spenser, John Milton, William Wordsworth, Thomas Gray, Elizabeth Barrett Browning and a few others.

      The Sonnet has become popular among different poets because it has a great adaptability to different purposes and requirements. Rhythms are strictly followed. It could be a perfect poetic style for elaboration or expression of a single feeling or thought with its short length in iambic pentameter. In fact, it gives an ideal laboratory to a poet for exploration of strong emotions. Due to its short length, it is easy to manage for both the writer and the reader. Following is an example of English or Shakespearean sonnet.

From fairest creatures we desire increase;

That thereby beauty’s rose might never die.

But as the riper should by time decease,

His tender heir might bear his memory:

But thou, contracted to thine own bright eyes,

Feed’st thy light’s flame with self substantial fuel,

Making a famine where abundance lies,

Thyself thy foe, to thy sweet self too cruel.

Thou that art now the world’s fresh ornament

And only herald to the gaudy spring,

Within thine own bud burriest thy content

And, tender churl, mak’st waste in niggarding

Pity the world, or else this glutton be,

To eat world’s due, by the grave and thee

Subject of Sonnet

      The traditional subject of the sonnet has primarily been Love. Petrarch wrote his great sonnet sequence to his beloved, Laura. Many of Shakespeare’s sonnets are also about Love, but Shakespeare mocked the standard worshipful attitude of the Petrarchan sonnet in his famous “My Mistress’s eyes are nothing like the sun”. Development of the English sonnet led to consideration of other topics, including mortality, mutability, politics, and writing itself. Donne turned from the secular subject of Love to consideration of sacred themes in a group of nineteen Holy Sonnets. Milton, instead of writing a sequence about Love, wrote individual sonnets about serious ideas, political themes, or public occasions. After Milton the sonnet declined in popularity — until it was taken up again with fervor during the Romantic period.

Significance of Sonnet

      Poetry is musical, music is poetic. Sweetness of language and melody of speech ever remain the keys to good poetic works. Although, modern poems are more than often composed without or with very few melodious arrangements of vocabulary, it is still the older rhythmic verses which are more ear-pleasing. The sonnet is one of the most recognizable and common forms to be used in poetry. Though it has some restrictions on rhyme and meter, it is a relatively open form which allows for a great range of expression in sonnets. Sonnet has become popular among different poets because it has a great adaptability to different purposes and requirements. Rhythms are strictly followed. It could be a perfect poetic style for elaboration or expression of a single feeling or thought with its short length in iambic pentameter. In fact, it gives an ideal laboratory to a poet for exploration of strong emotions. Due to its short length, it is easy to manage for both the writer and the reader. William Shakespeare wrote many sonnets, and even used the form in many of his plays, such as the famous prologue to Romeo and Juliet. Sonnets remain significant because they offer examples of how strict, formal poetry can also offer some flexibility to authors. For example, switching the rhythm of a sonnet’s typical unstressed/stressed pattern to a stressed/unstressed pattern in one line draws attention to the line and does not violate the more important formal requirements such as stanza length. Contemporary poets have used the traditional rules of line, rhythm and rhyme and the opportunity to bend these rules as a way to add new meaning and unique expression to their poetry.