For the song by English band The Verve, see Sonnet (song)

The term "sonnet" derives from the Occitan word sonet and the Italian word sonetto, both meaning "little song. The Verve (originally Verve) are an English rock band formed in Wigan, Greater Manchester in 1989 at Winstanley Sixth " Sonnet " is a song by Britpop band The Verve and is featured on their third Album, Urban Hymns. Occitan ( IPA BrE: /ˈɒksɪtn/ AmE: /ˈɑksəˌtɑn/ known also as Lenga d'òc or Langue d'oc (native name occitan Italian ( or lingua italiana) is a Romance language spoken by about 63 million people as a First language, primarily in Italy. " By the thirteenth century, it had come to signify a poem of fourteen lines that follows a strict rhyme scheme and specific structure. A rhyme scheme is the pattern of rhyming Lines in a Poem or Song. The conventions associated with the sonnet have evolved over its history. The writers of sonnets are sometimes referred to as "sonneteers," although the term can be used derisively. Sonneteer is an archaic term for a Poet who composes Sonnets though the individual may not necessarily write poetry exclusively in that particular Poetic form Many modern writers of sonnets choose simply to be called "sonnet writers. " One of the most well known sonnet writers is Shakespeare, who wrote 154 sonnets. William Shakespeare ( baptised

Traditionally, when writing sonnets, English poets usually employ iambic pentameter. Iambic pentameter is a type of meter that is used in Poetry and Drama. In the Romance languages, the hendecasyllable and Alexandrine are the most widely used metres. The Romance languages (sometimes referred to as Romanic languages, or Neolatin languages) are a branch of the Indo-European language family comprising all Hendecasyllable verse (in Italian endecasillabo) is a kind of verse used mostly in Italian Poetry, defined by its having the last An alexandrine is a line of poetic meter comprising 12 Syllables Alexandrines are common in the German literature of the Baroque period and In Poetry, the meter or metre is the basic rhythmic structure of a verse.

Italian sonnet

The Italian sonnet was invented by Giacomo da Lentini, head of the Sicilian School under Frederick II. Giacomo da Lentini, also known as Jacopo ( il) Notaro, was an Italian poet of the 13th century. The Sicilian School was a small community of Sicilian, and to a lesser extent mainland Italian poets gathered around Frederick II, most of them belonging to his court Frederick II ( December 26, 1194 &ndash December 13, 1250) of the Hohenstaufen dynasty was a Pretender to the title ^[1] Guittone d'Arezzo rediscovered it and brought it to Tuscany where he adapted it to his language when he founded the Neo-Sicilian School (1235–1294). Guittone d'Arezzo ( Arezzo, c 1235 - 1294 was a Tuscan Poet and the founder of the Tuscan School Tuscany (Toscana is a region in Italy. It has an area of 22990 km² and a population of about 3 He wrote almost 300 sonnets. Other Italian poets of the time, including Dante Alighieri (1265–1321) and Guido Cavalcanti (c. Guido Cavalcanti (c 1255 – August 1300 was an Italian Poet who was a role model for and a very close friend of Dante. 1250–1300) wrote sonnets, but the most famous early sonneteer was Petrarca (known in English as Petrarch). Francesco Petrarca ( July 20, 1304 – July 19, 1374) known in English as Petrarch, was an Italian scholar Other fine examples were written by Michelangelo.

The Italian sonnet comprises two parts. First, the octave (two quatrains), which describe a problem, followed by a sestet (two tercets), which gives the resolution to it. An octave is a Verse form consisting of eight lines of Iambic pentameter (in English or of Hendecasyllables (in Italian A quatrain is a Poem, or a Stanza within a poem that consists always of four lines A sestet is the name given to the second division of a Sonnet, which must consist of an octave, of eight lines succeeded by a sestet of six lines A tercet is three lines of Poetry, forming a Stanza or complete poem Typically, the ninth line creates a "turn" or volta which signals the move from proposition to resolution. Even in sonnets that don't strictly follow the problem/resolution structure, the ninth line still often marks a "turn" by signaling a change in the tone, mood, or stance of the poem.

In the sonnets of Giacomo da Lentini, the octave rhymed a-b-a-b, a-b-a-b; later, the a-b-b-a, a-b-b-a pattern became the standard for Italian sonnets. Giacomo da Lentini, also known as Jacopo ( il) Notaro, was an Italian poet of the 13th century. For the sestet there were two different possibilities, c-d-e-c-d-e and c-d-c-c-d-c. In time, other variants on this rhyming scheme were introduced such as c-d-c-d-c-d.

The first known sonnets in English, written by Sir Thomas Wyatt and Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, used this Italian scheme, as did sonnets by later English poets including John Milton, Thomas Gray, William Wordsworth and Elizabeth Barrett Browning. Sir Thomas Wyatt (1503 &ndash October 11, 1542) was a 16th century English lyrical Poet. Henry Howard Earl of Surrey KG (1517 &ndash 19 January 1547) was an English aristocrat and one of the founders of English Renaissance John Milton ( 9 December, 1608 – 8 November, 1674) was an English Poet, Prose Polemicist and Thomas Gray ( December 26, 1716 – July 30, 1771) was an English Poet, classical scholar and professor at Cambridge Elizabeth Barrett Browning ( March 6, 1806 &ndash June 29, 1861) was one of the most respected Poets of the Victorian era Early twentieth-century American poet, Edna St. Vincent Millay, also wrote most of her sonnets using the Italian form.

This example, On His Blindness by Milton, gives a sense of the Italian form:

Occitan sonnet

The lone surviving sonnet in Occitan is confidently dated to 1284 and is conserved only in troubadour manuscript P, an Italian chansonnier of 1310, now XLI. A chansonnier (cançoner cançonièr Galician and cancioneiro canzoniere or canzoniéro cancionero is a Manuscript or printed book which contains a 42 in the Biblioteca Laurenziana in Florence. Florence ( Italian: Firenze Florentia and Fiorenza) is the Capital City of the Italian region of Tuscany ^[2] It was written by Paolo Lanfranchi da Pistoia and is addressed to Peter III of Aragon. Paolo Lanfranchi da Pistoia or Pistoja (Paulo Ianfranchi de Pistoia fl Peter the Great ( Catalan: Pere el Gran, Spanish: Pedro el Grande; 1239 &ndash 2 November 1285) was the King of Aragon This poem is historically interesting for its information on north Italian perspectives concerning the War of the Sicilian Vespers, the conflict between the Angevins and Aragonese for Sicily. The War of the ( Sicilian) Vespers started with the insurrection of the Sicilian Vespers against Charles of Anjou in 1282 and finally ended with The Capetian House of Anjou, or the Second Angevin dynasty, was a cadet branch of the Capetian dynasty, established by Charles Count of Anjou The House of Barcelona ( Casa d'Aragona in Italian history) was a medieval dynasty that ruled the County of Barcelona continuously from 878 and the The Kingdom of Sicily (Regnum Siciliae or Sicilie Regno di Sicilia, commonly abbreviated Regno) was a state that existed in the south of Italy ^[2] Peter III and the Aragonese cause was popular in northern Italy at the time and Paolo's sonnet is a celebration of his victory over the Angevins and Capetians in the Aragonese Crusade:

An Occitan sonnet, dated to 1321 and assigned to one "William of Almarichi", is found in Jean de Nostredame and cited in Giovanni Crescembeni, Storia della volgar Poesia. It congratulates Robert of Naples on his recent victory. Robert of Anjou, known as Robert the Wise (Roberto il Saggio 1277 – 20 January, 1343) was King of Naples from 1309 to 1343 Its authenticity is dubious.

English sonnet

William Shakespeare, in the famous "Chandos" portrait. William Shakespeare ( baptised The "Chandos" portrait is one of the most famous of the portraits that may depict William Shakespeare ( 1564 &ndash 1616) Artist and authenticity unconfirmed. National Portrait Gallery (UK).

See also: Shakespeare's sonnets

Sonnets were introduced by Thomas Wyatt in the early 16th century. Shakespeare's sonnets, or simply The Sonnets, is a collection of Poems in Sonnet form written by William Shakespeare that deal with Sir Thomas Wyatt (1503 &ndash October 11, 1542) was a 16th century English lyrical Poet. His sonnets and those of his contemporary the Earl of Surrey were chiefly translations from the Italian of Petrarch and the French of Ronsard and others. Henry Howard Earl of Surrey KG (1517 &ndash 19 January 1547) was an English aristocrat and one of the founders of English Renaissance Francesco Petrarca ( July 20, 1304 – July 19, 1374) known in English as Petrarch, was an Italian scholar Pierre de Ronsard ( 11 September, 1524 – December 1585 was a French Poet and "prince of poets" (as his own generation in France While Wyatt introduced the sonnet into English, it was Surrey who gave them the rhyme scheme, meter, and division into quatrains that now characterizes the English sonnet. Sir Philip Sidney's sequence Astrophil and Stella (1591) started a tremendous vogue for sonnet sequences: the next two decades saw sonnet sequences by William Shakespeare, Edmund Spenser, Michael Drayton, Samuel Daniel, Fulke Greville, William Drummond of Hawthornden, and many others. Sir Philip Sidney ( November 30, 1554 &ndash October 17, 1586) became one of the Elizabethan Age's most prominent figures Likely composed in the 1580s by Philip Sidney, Astrophel and Stella is the first of the famous English Sonnet sequences and contains 108 Sonnets and 11 A sonnet sequence is a group of Sonnets thematically unified to create a long work although generally unlike the stanza each sonnet so connected can also be read as a meaningful William Shakespeare ( baptised Edmund Spenser (c 1552 &ndash 13 January, 1599) was an important English Poet and Poet Laureate best known for The Michael Drayton (1563 &ndash December 23, 1631) was an English Poet who came to prominence in the Elizabethan era. Samuel Daniel (1562 &ndash October 14, 1619) was an English poet and historian. Fulke Greville 1st Baron Brooke de jure 13th Baron Latimer and' 5th Baron Willoughby de Broke' ( 3 October 1554 &ndash William Drummond ( December 13, 1585 &ndash December 4, 1649) called "of Hawthornden" was a Scottish Poet. These sonnets were all essentially inspired by the Petrarchan tradition, and generally treat of the poet's love for some woman; the exception is Shakespeare's sequence. In the 17th century, the sonnet was adapted to other purposes, with John Donne and George Herbert writing religious sonnets, and John Milton using the sonnet as a general meditative poem. John Donne (pronounced like done, dʌn 1572 – 31 March 1631 was a Jacobean poet preacher and a major representative of the Metaphysical poets George Herbert ( April 3, 1593 &ndash March 1, 1633) was a Welsh Poet, Orator and a Priest. John Milton ( 9 December, 1608 – 8 November, 1674) was an English Poet, Prose Polemicist and Both the Shakespearean and Petrarchan rhyme schemes were popular throughout this period, as well as many variants.

The fashion for the sonnet went out with the Restoration, and hardly any sonnets were written between 1670 and Wordsworth's time. The English Restoration, or simply The Restoration began in 1660 when the English monarchy, Scottish monarchy and Irish monarchy were restored However, sonnets came back strongly with the French Revolution. The French Revolution (1789–1799 was a period of political and social upheaval in the History of France, during which the French governmental structure previously an Wordsworth himself wrote several sonnets, of which the best-known are "The world is too much with us" and the sonnet to Milton; his sonnets were essentially modelled on Milton's. "The world is too much with us" is a Sonnet by the English Romantic poet William Wordsworth. Keats and Shelley also wrote major sonnets; Keats's sonnets used formal and rhetorical patterns inspired partly by Shakespeare, and Shelley innovated radically, creating his own rhyme scheme for the sonnet "Ozymandias". Percy Bysshe Shelley (August 4 1792 – July 8 1822 ˈpɝːsɪ ˈbɪʃ ˈʃɛlɪ was one of the major English Romantic poets and is widely considered to be among Sonnets were written throughout the 19th century, but, apart from Elizabeth Barrett Browning's Sonnets from the Portuguese and the sonnets of Dante Gabriel Rossetti, there were few very successful traditional sonnets. Elizabeth Barrett Browning ( March 6, 1806 &ndash June 29, 1861) was one of the most respected Poets of the Victorian era Sonnets from the Portuguese written ca 1845&ndash1846 and first published in 1850 is a collection of forty-four love Sonnets written by Elizabeth Barrett Browning Dante Gabriel Rossetti (12 May 1828 – 9 April 1882 was an English poet Illustrator, painter and Translator. Gerard Manley Hopkins wrote several major sonnets, often in sprung rhythm, of which the greatest is "The Windhover," and also several sonnet variants such as the 10-1/2 line curtal sonnet "Pied Beauty" and the 24-line caudate sonnet "That Nature is a Heraclitean Fire. Gerard Manley Hopkins ( 28 July 1844 – 8 June, 1889) was an English Poet, Roman Catholic convert and Sprung rhythm is a poetic rhythm designed to imitate the rhythm of natural speech The curtal sonnet is a form invented by Gerard Manley Hopkins, and used in three of his poems A caudate sonnet is an expanded version of the Sonnet. It consists of 14 lines in standard sonnet forms followed by a coda (Latin cauda meaning "tail" " By the end of the 19th century, the sonnet had been adapted into a general-purpose form of great flexibility.

This flexibility was extended even further in the 20th century. Among the major poets of the early Modernist period, Robert Frost, Edna St. Vincent Millay and E. E. Cummings all used the sonnet regularly. Robert Lee Frost (March 26 1874 &ndash January 29 1963 was an American Poet. Edna St Vincent Millay ( February 22, 1892 &ndash October 19, 1950) was an American lyrical poet and playwright and the first Edward Estlin Cummings (October 14 1894 &ndash September 3 1962 popularly known as E William Butler Yeats wrote the major sonnet Leda and the Swan, which used half rhymes. Leda and the Swan is a motif from Greek mythology, in which Zeus came to Leda in the form of a Swan. Half rhyme, sometimes called slant, sprung, near rhyme, oblique rhyme, off rhyme or imperfect rhyme is Consonance Wilfred Owen's sonnet Anthem for Doomed Youth was another sonnet of the early 20th century. Wilfred Edward Salter Owen MC (18 March 1893 &ndash 4 November 1918 was an English Poet and Soldier, regarded by many as one of the leading Anthem for Doomed Youth is one of the best-known and most popular of Wilfred Owen 's poems W. H. Auden wrote two sonnet sequences and several other sonnets throughout his career, and widened the range of rhyme-schemes used considerably. Wystan Hugh Auden (21 February 1907 – 29 September 1973 ˈwɪstən ˈhjuː ˈɔːdən who signed his works W Auden also wrote one of the first unrhymed sonnets in English, "The Secret Agent" (1928). Year 1928 ( MCMXXVIII) was a Leap year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Half-rhymed, unrhymed, and even unmetrical sonnets have been very popular since 1950; perhaps the best works in the genre are Seamus Heaney's Glanmore Sonnets and Clearances, both of which use half rhymes, and Geoffrey Hill's mid-period sequence 'An Apology for the Revival of Christian Architecture in England'. For the British aeronautical engineer and professor see Geoffrey T The 1990s saw something of a formalist revival, however, and several traditional sonnets have been written in the past decade.

Soon after the introduction of the Italian sonnet, English poets began to develop a fully native form. These poets included Sir Philip Sidney, Michael Drayton, Samuel Daniel, the Earl of Surrey's nephew Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford and William Shakespeare. Sir Philip Sidney ( November 30, 1554 &ndash October 17, 1586) became one of the Elizabethan Age's most prominent figures Michael Drayton (1563 &ndash December 23, 1631) was an English Poet who came to prominence in the Elizabethan era. Samuel Daniel (1562 &ndash October 14, 1619) was an English poet and historian. Edward de Vere 17th Earl of Oxford ( 12 April 1550 &ndash 24 June 1604) was an Elizabethan Courtier, Playwright William Shakespeare ( baptised The form is often named after Shakespeare, not because he was the first to write in this form but because he became its most famous practitioner. The form consists of three quatrains and a couplet. The third quatrain generally introduces an unexpected sharp thematic or imagistic "turn" called a volta. The usual rhyme scheme was a-b-a-b, c-d-c-d, e-f-e-f, g-g. In addition, sonnets are usually written in iambic pentameter, meaning that there are 10 or perhaps even 11 or 9 syllables per line, and that every other syllable is naturally accented. Iambic pentameter is a type of meter that is used in Poetry and Drama. (Sonnets almost always have 10 syllable lines, but do not always have the natural accent)The sonnet must be 14 lines long, and the last two lines of the sonnet have rhyming endings (though there may be exceptions). In Shakespeare's sonnets, the couplet usually summarizes the theme of the poem or introduces a fresh new look at the theme.

This is the proper rhyme scheme for an English Sonnet (/ represents a new stanza): a-b-a-b / c-d-c-d / e-f-e-f / g-g

This example, Shakespeare's Sonnet 116, illustrates the form:

Spenserian sonnet

A variant on the English form is the Spenserian sonnet, named after Edmund Spenser (c. Edmund Spenser (c 1552 &ndash 13 January, 1599) was an important English Poet and Poet Laureate best known for The 1552–1599) in which the rhyme scheme is, abab, bcbc, cdcd, ee. In a Spenserian sonnet there does not appear to be a requirement that the initial octave set up a problem that the closing sestet answers, as is the case with a Petrarchan sonnet. An octave is a Verse form consisting of eight lines of Iambic pentameter (in English or of Hendecasyllables (in Italian A sestet is the name given to the second division of a Sonnet, which must consist of an octave, of eight lines succeeded by a sestet of six lines Instead, the form is treated as three quatrains connected by the interlocking rhyme scheme and followed by a couplet. The linked rhymes of his quatrains suggest the linked rhymes of such Italian forms as terza rima. Terza rima is a rhyming verse Stanza form that consists of an interlocking three line rhyme scheme This example is taken from Amoretti

Modern sonnet

With the advent of free verse, the sonnet came to be seen as somewhat old-fashioned and fell out of use for a time among some schools of poets. Free verse is a term describing various styles of Poetry that are written without using strict meter or Rhyme, but that still are recognizable as poetry However, a number of 20th-century poets, including Wilfred Owen, John Berryman, Edwin Morgan, Robert Frost, Edna St. Vincent Millay, E.E. Cummings, Jorge Luis Borges, Pablo Neruda, Joan Brossa, Rainer Maria Rilke, and Seamus Heaney continued to use the form. The twentieth century of the Common Era began on Wilfred Edward Salter Owen MC (18 March 1893 &ndash 4 November 1918 was an English Poet and Soldier, regarded by many as one of the leading John Allyn Berryman (originally John Allyn Smith) ( October 25, 1914 – January 7, 1972) was an American Edwin George Morgan OBE (born April 27, 1920) is a Scottish poet and translator who is associated with the Scottish Renaissance Robert Lee Frost (March 26 1874 &ndash January 29 1963 was an American Poet. Edna St Vincent Millay ( February 22, 1892 &ndash October 19, 1950) was an American lyrical poet and playwright and the first Edward Estlin Cummings (October 14 1894 &ndash September 3 1962 popularly known as E Pablo Neruda ( July 12, 1904 – September 23, 1973) was the pen name and later legal name of the Chilean writer and politician Joan Brossa i Cuervo ( Barcelona, 1919 - 1998 Poet, Playwright, Graphic designer and plastic artist Rainer Maria Rilke (also Rainer Maria von Rilke (4 December 1875 &ndash 29 December 1926 is considered one of the German language 's greatest 20th century Poets The advent of the New Formalism movement in the United States has also contributed to contemporary interest in the sonnet. New Formalism is a late-twentieth and early twenty-first century movement in American poetry that has promoted a return to metrical and Rhymed verse

Related topics

Types of sonnets

• Caudate sonnet
• Curtal sonnet
• Pushkin sonnet

Groups of sonnets

• Crown of sonnets
• Sonnet cycle
• Sonnet sequence

Forms commonly associated with sonnets

• Quatorzain
• Fourteener

Bibliography

• I. Literature is the Art of written works Literally translated the word means "acquaintance with letters" (from Latin littera letter An epic is a lengthy Narrative poem, ordinarily concerning a serious subject containing details of heroic deeds and events significant to a culture or nation As a Literary genre of High culture, romance or chivalric romance refers to a style of heroic Prose and verse Narrative A novel (from Italian novella, Spanish novela, French nouvelle for "new" "news" or "short story Comedy (from the Greek κωμωδίαkomodia has a popular meaning (any discourse generally intended to amuse especially in Television, Film, and Drama is the specific mode of Fiction represented in Performance. Satire is often strictly defined as a literary genre or form; although in practice it is also found in the graphic and Performing arts In satire human A performance, in Performing arts, generally comprises an event in which one group of people (the performer or performers behave in a particular way for another group of people A Book is a set or collection of written printed illustrated or blank sheets made of Paper, Parchment, or other material usually fastened together For the Wikipedia guideline regarding editing articles see WikipediaManual of Style. The following is a list of literary terms; that is those words used in discussion classification criticism and analysis of Literature. The history of literature is the historical development of Writings in Prose or Poetry which attempt to provide Entertainment, enlightenment The History of literature in the Modern period in Europe begins with the Age of Enlightenment and the conclusion of the Baroque period in the 18th century This is a list of lists of Books in Wikipedia General lists List of anonymously published works List of books The following are lists of Writers: By name A &ndash B &ndash Y &ndash Z By type of writing This is a list of literary awards from around the world Worldwide in scope Nobel Prize in Literature Neustadt International Prize This is a list of awards that are or have been given out to writers of Poetry, either for a specific poem collection of poems or body of work Literary criticism is the study discussion evaluation and interpretation of Literature. Literary theory in a strict sense is the systematic study of the nature of Literature and of the methods for analyzing literature A literary magazine is a Periodical devoted to Literature in a broad sense A caudate sonnet is an expanded version of the Sonnet. It consists of 14 lines in standard sonnet forms followed by a coda (Latin cauda meaning "tail" The curtal sonnet is a form invented by Gerard Manley Hopkins, and used in three of his poems Onegin stanza (sometimes " Pushkin sonnet " refers to the Verse form invented by Alexander Pushkin for his interpersonal epic Eugene A crown of sonnets or sonnet corona is a sequence of Sonnets usually addressed to some one person and/or concerned with a single theme A sonnet cycle is a group of Sonnets arranged to address a particular person or theme and designed to be read both as a collection of fully-realized individual poems and as A sonnet sequence is a group of Sonnets thematically unified to create a long work although generally unlike the stanza each sonnet so connected can also be read as a meaningful A quatorzain (from French quatorze, fourteen is a poem of fourteen lines A Fourteener, in Poetry, is a line consisting of 14 syllables usually having 7 Iambic feet often used in 16th century English verse Bell, et al. A Companion to Shakespeare's Sonnets. Blackwell Pub. , 2006. ISBN 1405121556.
• Bertoni, Giulio (1915). I Trovatori d'Italia: Biografie, testi, tradizioni, note. Rome: Società Multigrafica Editrice Somu.  
• T. W. H. Crosland. The English Sonnet. Hesperides Press, 2006. ISBN 1406796913.
• J. Fuller. The Oxford Book of Sonnets. Oxford Univ. Press, 2002. ISBN 0192803891.
• J. Fuller. The Sonnet. (The Critical Idiom: #26). Methuen & Co. , 1972. ISBN 0416656900.
• J. Hollander. Sonnets: From Dante to the Present. Everyman's Library, 2001. ISBN 0375411771.
• P. Levin. The Penguin Book of the Sonnet: 500 Years of a Classic Tradition in English. Penguin, 2001. ISBN 0140589295.
• J. Phelan. The Nineteenth Century Sonnet. Palgrave-Macmillan, 2005. ISBN 1403938040.
• S. Regan. The Sonnet. Oxford Univ. Press, 2006. ISBN 0192893076.
• M. R. G. Spiller. The Development of the Sonnet: An Introduction. Routledge, 1992. ISBN 0415087414.
• M. R. G. Spiller. The Sonnet Sequence: A Study of Its Strategies. Twayne Pub. , 1997. ISBN 0805709703.

External links

• Contemporary Sonnet
• Sonnets.org
• Selective Historical Bibliography on the Sonnet
• Shakespeare's sonnets in modern English
• Some English Translations of Petrarch
• Shakespeare Sonnets – searchable database

Notes