The Sonnet A short history of the sonnet - PowerPoint Presentation

Slide1

The SonnetSlide2

A short history of the sonnet

The term “sonnet” derives from the Italian “

sonetto

”, a “

little sound or song

”.

The first examples are those written by

Iacopo

da

Lentini

in 1230;

The sonnet establishes its importance as a poetic form with Petrarch’s “

Canzoniere

” (started in 1335);

Petrarch describes his love for his beloved Laura using the

typical features of courtly love

.

the

lady

described by Petrarch is both

real

and

ideal, full of the highest physical and spiritual qualities

.

The poet is a man who suffers because of a disdainful lady who is beautiful, and often cruel;

He feels contrasting sensations: happiness or sorrow, love or hatred according to the presence or absence of the lady or to his different states of mind;Slide3

Italian sonnet

rigid structural form

: the poet is asked to express his thoughts and feelings in fourteen lines

Petrarchan

sonnet

Fourteen

iambic pentameters divided into:two stanzas, one octave and one sestet, usually rhyming:ABBAABBA. CDECDE or CDCDCD (even if the rhyme scheme sometimes varies).

The function of the octave is: to introduce a problem or a situation

The function of the sestet is:

to provide an answer or to make comments

on the

situation and expresses the personal feelings

of the poet.Slide4

The

sonnet

in England

Sir Thomas Wyatt

(1500 – 1542) – first English poet to introduce the

Italian sonnet to England.

Initially, he simply translates the poems into English;then, to adapt the Italian pattern to the English language, he leaves the octave unchanged and modifies the sestet dividing it into a quatrain and a couplet.The Petrarchan

theme of love remains unchanged.Sometimes Wyatt’s quatrain and couplet seem more like a sestet;

It is only with the

Earl of Surrey

(c. 1517-1547) that

the final couplet

is clearly

separated from the quatrain

and comments on the previous twelve lines.

Surrey also changes the octave into two quatrains with different rhymes;Slide5

The

final pattern

that distinguishes the

Elizabethan pattern

from the

Petrarchan one consists of three quatrains and a couplet,

and its rhyme scheme is: ABAB-CDCD-EFEF-GG.The couplet is always epigrammatic: it has the function of: summing up the subject matter dealt with in the previous twelve lines or ...

reversing the meaning previously discussed.The fortune of the genre is due to the publication of “Astrophel and Stella”

(1591) -

a sequence of sonnets

by

Philip Sidney

.

A sonnet sequence is a series of sonnets on a particular theme addressed to a particular person.

FortuneSlide6

The

sonnet

in England

Theme

The commonest

theme

is love and in the case of Sidney, his love with Stella. In accordance with Petrarch’s model, it is a conflictual love, full of tenderness and bitterness, hatred and possession.Another important sequence of sonnets is the one written by Edmund Spenser (1552-1599) entitled “Amoretti”, where the poet celebrates his lady and, at the same time,

deals with the theme of immortality gained through poetry by both the poet and his beloved. Spenser’s “Amoretti”Shakespeare’s sonnets

Published in 1609 but written in the last decade of the 16

th

century, they are the greatest collection of English sonnets.

They are clearly influenced by the Italian and classical tradition but, at the same time, they are also highly original.Slide7

Metaphysical

poets

Their works are characterised by:

elaborate style

search for the unusual

intellectualism most famous representative of metaphysical poets: John Donne Cavalier poetsTheir works are characterised by:classical eleganceclarity most famous representative of Cavalier poets: Ben JonsonSlide8

A

fourteen-line

poem in iambic

*

pentameter.Main characteristicsA carefully patterned rhyme scheme.Invented by the Italian Iacopo da Lentini in the first half of the 13th century.Introduced into England by Sir Thomas Wyatt.

Two types of sonnet: Petrarchan and Shakespearean.*Iamb: Type of foot made up of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed oneSlide9

14 lines

of iambic pentameter

14 lines

of iambic pentameter

Division into 2 sections:

the octave presents a problem or situation

the

sestet

solves or clarifies the situation

Division into

4 sections

: 

3 quatrains

present a problem or situation

a couplet

solves or summarizes the problem.

Rhyme scheme:

ABABABAB or ABBAABBA for the

octave

CDECDE or CDCDEE

for the

sestet

Rhyme scheme:

ABAB

Quatrain I

CDCD

Quatrain II EFEF Quatrain III GG Couplet

Table of comparison

Petrarchan sonnet

Shakespearean

sonnetSlide10

Chivalric

poem

Very popular during the Renaissance period

The Christian epic poem

The temptation of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden and man’s loss of paradise are the main themes of this poem.

Developed in France and Italy and then spread all over EuropeThe “Faerie Queene” (1591- 1596) by Edmund Spenser is the best example of this genre in England In his work, the poet creates an imaginary world in which knights, ladies, fairies, gods and goddesses tell fantastic tales through which he celebrates Queen Elizabeth and her court.

The allegorical form of the poem allows the poet to contrast Protestant England with her Catholic enemies such as the Vatican

The most important example of Renaissance epic is John Milton’s “Paradise Lost”.

The influence of Greek and Roman literature as well as of Christian humanism are quite evident in Milton’s masterpiece