Genre studies Unit- IV The Sonnet

 

THE SONNET

Introduction

·        Sonnet is a 14 line poem. It was originally a short poem, recited to the accompaniment of music the word "sonnet" being a derivative of the Italian "sonetto," meaning a "little sound" or "strain." It has a fixed rhyme scheme. It uses Iambic pentameter. Writers of Sonnets are Sonneteers. It was invented during 13th century Italy by the renaissance poets Giacomo da Lentino and poets of Sicilian School. 

The Italian Sonnet (Octave - 8 lines + Sestet- 6 lines)

·         The Italian Sonnet is often known as the Petrarchan but is sometimes called the classical, as being the model which other countries followed later.

·         It is a short poem of fourteen lines, expressing one single thought or feeling) It is composed of two parts the octave, a stanza of eight lines, and the sestet, a stanza of six.

·         The octave has two thymes (say and by arranged according to the following scheme: a b b a, a b b a. The sestet sometimes has three rhymes in various ways as follows: c d e c d e or c d c, d c d; or c d e, d c e. The beginning line of the sestet is known as the volta (9th line).  Octave- introduce a problem, desire, situation, conflict. Sestet- gives a solution.

·         The octave may be divided into two stanzas of four lines each, called quatrains; and the sestet into two of three lines each, called tercets.

The most famous Italian Sonneteer was Francesco Petrarch. So Italian sonnets are also called as Petrarchan sonnet.

The English Sonnet (4+4+4+2)

·         The Sonnet was introduced into England in the first half of the 16th century by Sir Thomas Wyatt and Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey.

·         The English Sonnet is in three quatrains, in alternate rhyme, followed by a concluding couplet: abab cdcd efef gg.

·         Since it is divided into four parts, it has no pause and turn of thought (caesura and volta) at the end of the eighth line. Shakespeare was the most popular sonneteer during this time. so these sonnets are also called as Shakespearean sonnets.

The Spenserian Sonnet (variation of Shakespearean sonnet)

(3 Interlocked quatrains and a couplet)

·         Spenser had evolved a new variety, each of the quatrains linked to the other by an intermixture of the rhymes in the following manner a b a b, b c b c, c d c d, e e.