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The Sonnet

            The Sonnet has been a popular form in Western literature for five centuries. There are many reasons for the popularity of the sonnet and one is certainly its form. The history of the sonnet form's development shows that it has outlived all the periods of literature. The sonnet form was developed in the early 13th century among the Sicilian school of court poets. The first person to write sonnets was Francis Petrarch. He wrote the first sequence of love sonnets addressing an idealized woman called Laura. In his sonnets Petrarch praises her beauty and perfection by using various metaphors (usually connected with natural beauties). The sonnet form spread throughout Europe to England where Sir Thomas Wyatt introduced it to readers in translating Petrarch in the 16th century. He and also Henry Howard used the sonnet for love poems of a particular type. They were both influenced by Petrarch and saw the lover as dutiful, anxious and full of praises of his mistress, whereas the mistress was seen as proud, unreceptive and very desirable. Changes have emerged in the fashion of writing from time to time but poets have always returned to the compact fourteen lines. In the Elizabethan period the sonnets advanced into a form with new metric and rhyme scheme that was departing from Petrarchan sonnets, though they still carried the Petrarchan conceit (that is to say a comparison between dissimilar things). It was during this time that Spenser, Sidney, Shakespeare and Donne experimented with the sonnet form. The metaphors Petrarch used had become a cliché in Shakespeare's day and in the sonnet 130 Shakespeare himself plays a joke on the conventions of love poetry of his time. For example he compares nature and the mistress by saying that "her lips are red as coral- and "her breasts are white as snow-. .
             Sonnets were also written during the height of classical English verse by for example Pope and Dryden, and the sonnet form outlived even the Romantic period when they emphasized freedom and usually did not prefer a very strict form like sonnets.


Essays Related to The Sonnet

1. Shakepere sonnet critique

... sonnet, it is actually a demonstrative sonnet portraying his true love for the mistress. In sonnet 116 the tone is sincere and earnest. Shakespeare is describing here what a true love to him really is. This seams to be a very serious matter and the mood throughout the sonnet is a more heartfelt and genuine sentiment. The mood all the way through the sonnet is consistent. It starts as a passionate sonnet and continues to be to the end. The ... figures of speech in both of these sonnets are what make the sonnets interesting. Sonnet 130 is full of similes and metaphors. When in the sonnet i...

  • Word Count: 950
  • Approx Pages: 4
  • Grade Level: High School

2. The Interpretation of Sonnets

... recently than Petrarchan, Shakespearean sonnets have taken a different approach on sonnet writing that blur the intentions of the sonnet itself and make us question the idea of love as a whole, something that Fineman calls a "mock encomium." Imposing the thematic sequence of a Petrarchan sonnet in a more formal pattern, Shakespeare uses the first and second quatrain to build on an argument and then ... process throughout as he tries to resolve the problem and identifies this problem in the volta, making clear his intentions with the poem. The unconventional subject matter of the sonnet ...

  • Word Count: 1540
  • Approx Pages: 6
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

3. Sonnet 98

... muted anaphora in lines 5-9" (Booth 209). Anaphora is the repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive clauses. In the first line of the sonnet, springtime has come, and the young man is away from the lady he loves. In line 2, the man is referring to all the joys of spring, some examples are the birds laying eggs and all the different flowers that are blooming. Lines 3 and 4 of ... the sonnet are telling how spring makes you feel young again ... about how all these things remind him of his lady. Concluding the sonnet in lines 13 and 14, the man says that even though it...

  • Word Count: 409
  • Approx Pages: 2
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: High School

4. Sonnet 130

... what people define as a beautiful woman and what she really looks like. Having multiple metaphors and similes creates a great sense of imagery. Throughout the sonnet many instances the sense of sight is revealed. My mistress" eyes are nothing like the sun; Coral is far more red than her lips" red. If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun; If hairs be wires ... is not like any other he has experienced. This woman is not like others he has met. The sonnet defines that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. There is more to a person than physical appearance. A person can find love in ...

  • Word Count: 1776
  • Approx Pages: 7
  • Grade Level: High School

5. Sonnet 18 and Suburban Sonnet

... sun-genre have helped to form/shape my reading of Shakespeare's "Sonnet 18" and Gwen Harwood's "Suburban Sonnet". "Suburban Sonnet" and "Sonnet 18" conforms to the sub-genre of a sonnet through the use of specific generic poetic conventions to put forward the ideas of eternal love and immortal beauty, the stressful trap, role and unwanted stress of motherhood. My readings of ... nature of language, through its ability to immortalise human beauty. This poem conforms to the sub-genre of a sonnet through the use of the common techniques of language and meter. The author has written the poe...

  • Word Count: 761
  • Approx Pages: 3
  • Grade Level: High School

6. Compare/Contrast of Sonnet 18 and 130

... love poetry metaphors against themselves. The tones of both sonnets are at opposite ends of the spectrum. When Sonnet 18 is read there is an overall tone of romance and seriousness, whereas the tone in the first 10 lines of Sonnet 130 is extremely humorous. The couplet at the end however, is most sincere, which completely changes the mood at the end of the sonnet. While it is clear that ... Shakespeare's Sonnet 18 and his Sonnet 130 are very different, there ... are similarities between the two sonnets. Although his uses of analogies in both ... ...

  • Word Count: 1245
  • Approx Pages: 5
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: High School

7. Shakespear Sonnet 18

... 's day?" Shakespear is saying shall i compare you to the beauty of nature which i see around me. The summers day in line 1 extends throughout the sonnet to the month of May in line 3 and the whole season of summer in line 4. There are also several alliterations to this sonnet. The Sh sound threads through the poem, with shall, shake and short. The to sound is also used several times. For example ... with to and too. In the second stanza begining with "Sometime ... alliteration continues with shall, shall and shade. To alliteration continues with to. Lo alliteration continues with lose. ...

  • Word Count: 515
  • Approx Pages: 2
  • Grade Level: High School

8. Samuel Daniel's Sonnet Thirty-Three

... deals with subjects such as love, passion, and nature. A sonnet sequence's sonnets share the same subject matter and the same type of dramatic situation. Samuel Daniel's sonnet sequence, Delia, is an expression of true love. It tells of everlasting love, one that is faithful and loyal. Sonnet number thirty-three tells of this type of love. The speaker is a man telling a woman, Delia, how deep his ... passion is for her. This poem is an anthem of love written from the deepest part of a man's soul, trying so desperately to win the love of a woman. Daniel writes in line six, "Though ... w...

  • Word Count: 615
  • Approx Pages: 2
  • Grade Level: High School

9. The Evolution of the Sonnet

... do I Love Thee" is one of the most recognizable sonnets of love. In contrast, Claude McKay's "The White City" used the sonnet to express his views on injustice. The poetry of Browning and Mckay illustrates the broad spectrum of the sonnet form, and the uniform order that allows two opposing themes to be contained in a single pattern. The sonnet originated in Italy long before Browning or ... Mckay were even born. Introduced by Petrarch in the twelfth century, the sonnet eventually became a widely ... a principle, not just an emotion. As fitting a sonnet is at describing love, the possib...

  • Word Count: 655
  • Approx Pages: 3
  • Grade Level: High School

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