Considering the Sonnet as Verse Form

Considering the Sonnet as Verse Form

The sonnet originated in Italy and was first written by a man called

Giacomo da Lentino. This form soon started to become popular, because

it allowed the poet to express a large amount of thoughts or ideas in

only fourteen lines. It was then developed by many poets to suit their

own needs. It was especially popular with Cavalcanti, Dante and

Petrarch. Francesco Petrarch was probably one of the most famous of

the Italian sonnet writers and so the Italian form is also known as

the Petrarchan form. This type of poem eventually spread to England,

brought over by Sir Thomas Wyatt and Henry Howard, Earl of surrey. The

Petrarchan form is very rigid and is not open to variation in rhyme

scheme or sequence (with an octave and then a sestet and a Volta in

the middle). It is also very set with subject matter - love, time and

change. The sonnet form has changed a great deal since the time of the

first Petrarchan sonnets. In this essay I have discussed the changes

that have been made to the sonnet form, by whom and for what reason.

The Petrarchan form of the sonnet was one of the earliest forms. This

type is very rigid in format. It starts with the first eight lines,

the octave, which states the problem or question. It then has a Volta

in which the sonnet changes direction, or attitude. Then the sestet

(the last six lines) follows by answering the question or solves the

problem. Sir Thomas Wyatt's sonnet 'Who list to hunt' is a famous

example of the Petrarchan form in England. This sonnet was written

about the queen and in the octave he talks about how he hunts for her

but in 'vain travail' since it is like...

... middle of paper ...

...r Volta. Jennings

sonnet has also lost its iambic pentameter format and therefore reads

more like a piece of prose.

Since the 16th century, the sonnet form has changed a great deal, from

the original Petrarchan form, with its strict rhyme scheme, iambic

pentameter rhythm, Volta in the middle and subject matter of love,

time or change to the present day sonnet, which almost cannot be

identified as a sonnet. It has no strict rhyme scheme, it does not

always have an iambic pentameter rhythm, it does not have to have a

Volta and it has no particular subject matter. These changes have

normally been because the writer wanted to make their sonnets personal

to themselves or occasionally because the change made it easier to

write. Whatever the reason, these changes have led to many different

types of sonnet being written.