The sonnet

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The Renaissance is considered the golden age of
poetry because of the flourishing of love songs and
sonnets.
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The sonnet was introduced into England by Sir
Thomas Wyatt and Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey from
Italy where it had been used by Dante and Petrarch.
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Wyatt and Surrey imitated Petrarch in response to the
taste for Italian fashions that was popular in Henry
VIII's court in the 16 th century.
 The Petrarchan and the English
sonnet
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The sonnet is a poem made up of fourteen lines
that may be variously rhymed.

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There are some differences between the
Petrarchan sonnet and the Elizabethan one
(also called Shakespearean sonnet)
 IAMBIC PENTAMETER
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Shakespeare's sonnets are written predominantly in a
meter called iambic pentameter.
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An iambic pentameter is a rhyme scheme in which
each sonnet line consists of ten syllables.
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The syllables are divided into five pairs called iambs
or iambic feet.
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An iamb is a metrical unit made up of one
unstressed syllable followed by one stressed
syllable. (ex deLIGHT, reLEASE)
 Italian sonnet vs Shakespearean
sonnet
Italian sonnet Shakespearean sonnet
14 lines of iambic pentameter 14 lines of iambic pentameter
Division into 2 sections: Division into 4 sections:
The octave (two quatrains) presents a Three quartains that present a problem or
problem or situation a situation
The sestet (two tercets) solves or clarify A couplet that solves or clarify the situation
the situation
Rhyme scheme: Rhyme scheme:
1 st quartain: abba 1st quartain :abab
2 nd quartain: abba 2nd quartain: cdcd
1st tercet: cdc 3rd quartain: efef
2nd tercet:cdc Final couplet: gg
 Shakespeare's sonnets
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Shakespeare wrote 154 sonnets between 1593
and 1598 that were later published in1609.
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S. dedicated his poetic work to the young Earl
of Southampton who was his friend and patron.
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The sonnet sequence has no title (the opening
line usually serves as a title)
 Poetry of the italian dolce stil novo
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Love was no longer mere courtship
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The woman became an angel, an intermediary
creature between the earth and heaven.
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Spiritual elevation was the new theme
connected with Love.
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The presence of the lady led man closer to God
(Guinizzelli, Cavalcanti and- highest expression
in Dante Alighieri)
 Petrarch
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The figure of F. Petrarch (1304-1374) stood
between the dying medieval period and the
Renaissance.
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During the Renaissance the poet confronted the
clash between ideal love leading to perfection
and real love which is instead irrational,
complicated, passionate and sometimes leads
to folly and perdition.
 The dark lady
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S. tried to separate the different aspects of love
that had been fused in Petrarch.
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He rewrote the Petrarchan archetype.
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He inverted the traditional presentation of the
woman.
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His lady is given dark hair and eyes and an
unattractive face.
 Perfect lady vs dark lady
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Dolce stil novo: perfect lady, leading star,
mystical guide to heaven
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Shakespeare: dark lady, flesh and blood
woman, sensual and sometimes unfaithful.
 Realistic characters
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The sonnets are centred on two realistic
characteres:
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The dark lady
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The fair youth: at the beginning he is a model of
physical and moral perfection. In the end he too
becomes unfaithful, full of defects. He becomes
human.
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The fair youth is at the centre of the sonnets, he
is the main source of poetical inspiration.
 Other characters
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The poet (who can be thought of as a sort of
first-person narrator)
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The rival poet is a dangerous rival, a poet other
than the narrator who has started invoking the
fair youth as his muse. He is a disturbing factor
in Shakespeare's affection for the fair youth.
 THEMES: LOVE
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In the first 17 sonnets old recurring themes
come to new life.
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They are known as “marriage sonnets”
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In these sonnets the poet urges a handsome
young man (the fair youth) to marry, to find a
wife and beget an heir (have children)
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Exaltation of procreation not to lose his moral
and spiritual gifts.
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These sonnets are a deep reflection on the
passing away of human life and the decay of
earthly things
 LOVE
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Love is described both in its physical and
spiritual aspects.
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Shakespeare's lady is depicted as an ordinary
woman with her physical qualities and
imperfections.
 Main themes: Time
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TIME is the arch-enemy of all human beings.
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It threatens the beauty and the goodness of the
world.
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Time is the worst enemy for the poet-lover.
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There are two ways of opposing time:
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Procreation: the only defence against death and
decay.
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Poetry: it can make people and things eternal. It
can immortalize both the loved one and the
poet. Immortality is conferred by poetry
 Exercises page 151
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He realizes that his beloved too will one day
lose his beauty and pass away (die).
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It contains the image of Time as death bearing
a Scythe( typical in Mediaval and Renaissance
iconology)
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The image of death was already present in
“Borne on the bier”(line 8)and “since sweets
and beauties.... and die as fast as they see
others grow”
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No, it doesn't. In line 1 time is simply the time
shown on the clock, the time that is passing.
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In line 10 time acquires a more sinister twist, as
the poet speaks of “the wastes of time”. In line
13 time is personified as Time bearing a Scythe
(time is written in capital letter) against which
man is helpless.
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The conjunctions highlight the passing of time
and its consequences: the poet gazes at the
clock or at natural signs of seasonal changes
and this makes him realize that the fair youth's
beauty is transient (not eternal) and that
ultimately we are all defenceless in the face of
time.
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The poet describes his own experience. The
three pronouns in line 14 refer to Time (him),
time again (he), the fair youth (thee)