The sonnet

The golden age of poetry The Renaissance is considered the ‘golden age’ of poetry.
In this period there is a birth of sonets and songs. I the firsthalf of the XIII century the
sonets is invented of Iacopo da Lentini in Italy and the maximum expression came
with the “Canzoniere” of Petrarca (1304-74)
The Italian or Petrarchan sonnet consists of an octave,usually rhymingABBA ABBA,
anda sestet, which may rhyme CDE CDE or CDC DCD. The octave generally
presents an issue or a situation, while the sestet contains the solution of the problem
or personal reflections.
This sonnet often shows a turning point at the end of the eighth line, and the words
like ‘and’, ‘if’, ‘so’, ‘but’ or ‘yet’ sometimes introduced the ninth line.
Shakespearean sonnet
Shakespearean sonnet is divided into three quatrains and a couplet, and it rhymes
ABAB CDCD EFEF GG. The quatrains is used of the poet to present a theme.
Sir Thomas Wyatt (1503-42) and Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey (1517-47),
introduced the Petrarchan sonnet into England but changed the rhyme scheme into
ABBA ABBA CDDC EE. Shakespeare adopted the three independent quatrains
followed by a couplet. The rhyme scheme of the Shakespearean sonnet became
ABAB CDCD EFEF GG. Elizabethan sonneteers use the conceits is conceived as a
metaphor that characterises a whole stanza or poem. In the last decades of Elizabeth’s
reign many poets started writing sonnetswhith the name of woman for the veneration
ofQueen Elizabeth I, who was referred to by poets as ‘Cynthia’ and ‘the Faerie
Queene’.
Themes and language
The fundamental theme of sonnet is the love and desire for a woman who does not
return the love of the poet. This conflict between desire and unhappiness leads the
poet to madness. This psychology of love is expressed through the frequent use of
oxymoron, a figure of speech that combines two contradictory terms. The lover begs
for the lady’s love but does not her to surrender; the lover suffers but he does not
want the end of suffering, he wants his lady to mourn his absence. Shakespeare
introduced other themes like beauty, decay and art. The popularity of the sonnet
declined during the 18th.
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Metaphysical poets
The term ‘metaphysical’ means ‘concerned with the fundamental problems of the
nature of the universe, and man’s function or place in life’. The Metaphysical poets
wrote during in the 17th century and their main representative was John Donne.
In this period the poets reflected the intellectual and spiritual crisis of their age, and
the transition from the Renaissance to the modern age. The poet was expected to be a
man of ‘wit’, displaying his sensitivity, his knowledge and cleverness. Metaphysical
poetry is full of reference of religious debate, astrology, alchemy, geography and
philosophy. the poets ability was to create unusual metaphors and images and
arrange them in an unexpected way so as to surprise the reader.
The style
The most important feature of metaphysical poetry is "presumption", a type of
metaphor in which the poet exploits all fields of knowledge for comparison: history,
geography, astronomy, alchemy, mathematics, etc.
Another important feature of metaphysical poetry are the epigrammatic paradox and
conciseness. Donne uses the words and the rhythms which common people were
using and most of his poems are dramatic monologues. The most poems begin in
media res,
and introducing the reader right in the middle of the poet's argument. Latinisms and
words of Anglo-Saxon origin were used.
The Metaphysical poets’ reputation
The metaphysical poets were largely forgotten during the eighteenth century, when a
a taste for clarity prevailed. They were taken up in the essays of the modern poet T.S.
Eliot (1888-1965), who understood their seriousness and their spirit of revolt, their
intellectualism and their affinities with modern interests.