5

Contribution of Surrey and Wyatt to English Sonnet

Introduction:- Sonneta special poem comprising of fourteen linesoriginated in Italy
in the late 13th century. In its present form, it is known as Petrarchan sonnet named after
the great Italian genius Petrarch. He established a tradition of his own which soon
became European. In the process of evolution, its scope and content was widened and
enriched with local variations by different followers of Petrarch, particularly in England.
Petrarch fused two traditions in his sonnet. The older tradition came from Provencal,
South of France, where French poets, called Tranbadours, had developed and widely
practiced love-lyric linked with the tradition of courtly love. These lyrics had a set theme
and a corresponding imagery. However, with the passage of time, these lyrics became
formal intellectual exercises, and the original ordour and passion cooled into set
responses and the service of love became just a part of the rigid code of Knight Errantry.
The verse forms became more subtle and elaborate. Then the religious elements were
added but the lyric remained predominantly sensuous and erotic.
The second tradition that Petrarch fused in the sonnet came from the Northern part of
Italy. Many poets like Dante transformed the stereotyped Provencal lyric by spiritualizing
the heroine. The imagery of the love lyric became the objective correlative of higher
love. The erotic and sensuous love imagery was now associated with heavenly love, best
exemplified in Dante. Then Petrarch gave a new shape and perfection to the sonnet form.
Thus we find the two tradition, one foreign and the second indigenous, culminating in
Petrarch. He was a poet of rare sensibility and versatile intellect. Hence he was able to
transform the Provencal love lyric into a vehicle suited for his own localized passion
Madonna Laura. The literary medium of Petrarchs inspiration was a modified lyric,
speaking with the simple lyrics immediacy and poignancy, yet so serious and
premeditated that it would set forth a total attitude to life.
The sonnet as developed and finalized by Petrarch consists of two parts, the Octave and
the Sestet; each part is sub-divided by syntax and linked back by rhyme-scheme. It was a
poem of two parts complementary to each other, and controlled by two sequential
processes of thought. The two parts functioned in such a way as to integrate the
experience as a whole. Each part worked with great economy and each could be
examined separately. The rhyme-scheme of the Petrarchan sonnet was fixed once for all
by Petrarch and has not been altered anywhere except in England. Two patterns of rhyme
are co-present in the Octave. One is the progressive movement of alternations (ab,ba),
suggesting the logic of exposition or narration. The other is a static interaction of
complete act. The relationship is abba, abba. The second sub-stanza of four lines is
carried back to the first by the integral rhyme scheme; the progressive logic of the syntax
is over-borne by the emotional suggestions or rhyme. In the Sestet, the act of correlation
replaces the completed act of intuition. More flexibility is permissible in the arrangement
of rhymes, the main object now being that syntax and rhyme should reinforce each other.
The function of the Sestet is not to supersede the intuitive knowledge of the Octave but to
gather up its truth and apprehend it in the region of conscious thought. It supports the
Octave, and both processes are organic, whether intuitive or rational. One thought is
worked out to its logical conclusion, and the conclusion of this thought is expounded in
the Sestet. Thus the sonnet becomes an integrated whole. Therefore, the quality of the
sonnet depends upon the quality of its thought content. The rhyme scheme of the
Petrarchan sonnet is the following:
Abba, abba, cde, cde. OR cde, edc, OR ccd, ccd.
Another important feature of the Petrarchan sonnet is its characteristic imagery and the
metaphor.

The Petrarchan sonnet underwent some delicate changes in accordance with the national
temper of the English poets. Some of the Petrarchan elements were retained and some
were discarded. The staple sonnet form of the Elizabethans was evolved at an early stage
by the Tudor poets who gave expression to their own national and contemporary attitudes
with a limited range. Wyatt was the first English poet to introduce and handle sonnet into
English literature. He had to completely follow the Italian model. It was a bold and
pioneering attempt with a strong creative urge. Wyatt wrote 31 sonnets out of which
almost 19 are the translations and adaptations from the Italian masters especially
Petrarch. They follow the originals in rhyme-scheme; but there are a few subtle
differences. The most prominent is the ending couplet. It gave a logical ending to his
sonnet. He also introduced some metrical changes as well to suit the needs of the
changing pronunciation of English language. J.W.Lever observes in this regard, His
careful patterning of the translation, word by word and stress by stress, upon the original
Italian models presented the intrusion of traditional English rhythms and in fact cleared
the way for the emergence of a contemporary English style. Soon Wyatt realized that
Italian versification could not be transferred to English. J.W. Lever observes again, The
texture of English weakened intolerably the delicate Italian rhythms, and the verse that
resulted lacked at once the vigour of the native tradition and the subtlety of the borrowed
medium. His verbal changes at first very tentative, limited to variations of nuances, but
steadily growing bolder, reacted progressively upon the Italian structure and
versification. Wyatt introduced technical modifications to suit his own language. He
introduced the ten-syllable line, and the final couplet along with other important
modification in rhythm.
As the sonnet evolved in the hands of Wyatt, two more changes occurred. The Octave
was divided into two clear-cut quatrains. The Sestet had already been divided into two
parts one consisting of four lines and the second, the final couplet. Wyatt had simplified
the rhyme-scheme of the Italian Sestet to mark off his couplet. Wyatt started to introduce
his own typical attitude of skepticism towards women. He began to ridicule the cult of
adulation for the sonnet heroine. This is evident in his sonnet beginning with the line,
Was I never yet of your love greved. He tells his mistress in plain words that he would
not die because of her attitude of disdain towards him nor he would have her name
inscribed on his tomb. These sentiments are just the opposite of those expressed by
Petrarch in his sonnets. Wyatts attitude is rebellious and cynical. He laid the foundation
for a new form; consisting of three quatrains of decasyllables and the final couplet. Lever
maintains, Form and content interpenetrated closely, and the joint product was a sonnet
reflecting a view of life almost directly antithetical to that of Petrarch. It was rational
rather than imaginative; empirical rather than transcendental and in matters of love it
replaced romantic ardour by Tudor egotism. His work falls into three periods: the early
phase, when he was groping laboriously towards a suitable form: the middle period, to
which belongs his mature and highly distinctive love sonnets: and the final phase, when
his interest in love declined and the excitement of public life took its place as a theme for
personal poetry. He gradually emancipated himself from the influence of Petrarch. He did
it successfully as he was a true poet. Being a man of his age, he responded faithfully to
the times in which he lived. He experienced many ups and downs in his political career.
He loved truth and did not compromise with his self-respect. It was this attitude that
enabled him to discard the romantic notion of love. He is rightly considered as one of the
pioneers of Elizabethan poetry.
Professor Saleem Raza
Govt. Postgraduate College Gojra.