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Contents |
Brief History of the Sonnet FormAlthough the Italian sonnet is also labelled Petrarchan, as the English sonnet also bears the name of Shakespearian, nothing could be more erroneous. It was in fact created by Giacomo da Lentini, (1188-1240) head of thirteen other notaries who formed the Sicilian School of Court Poetry (14 total) and later the Neo-Sicilian School (1235-1294) when he moved to Tuscany. There he started writing in his own language which was Italian, and wrote almost 300 sonnets. Other members of this school included Dante Alighieri (1235-1321) and Guido Cavalcanti (1250-1300). The most famous user of this form was Francesco Petrarcha (1304-1374) whose sonnets became popular throughout Europe. Petrarcha actually revived a lagging form and gave it even more life. At this point it should be emphasised that the form had been deliberately created with 14 lines, whether it was because of the number of the school or a spiritual and mathematical formula of 8 and 6, is still being argued, but the fact is that it was a ratio of 8 and 6, a statement and volta or turning point, making a 14 line poem. The Spanish form follows the Italian form and is merely an Italian Octave with a Sicilian Sestet. The French also liked the Italian octave, but decided they would make the volta more explosive and made it a couplet with a following a quatrain and a similar pattern to the previously used quatrain, thus making it a definite change rather than casual one or ignoring a change completely, whilst still maintaining the 8/6 ratio. During his ambassadorial travels through the courts of France, Spain and Italy, Sir Thomas Wyatt (1503 - 1542) was without doubt, privy to the sonnets that abounded there and later it is alleged that his sonnet "Whoso list to hunt" was about having to give up his love for Anne Boleyn and was based around Petrarch's Rhyme 190. He is credited with introducing the English sonnet form and translating some of Petrarch's poetry. He was also an admirer of Chaucer innovative languages, but it took 15 years after his death before any of his work was published. Looking at some of his work, a true Petrarchan can be seen originally, however with his later work a deviation becomes apparent where he still follows the Italian octave, but the volta uses a quatrain using the same rhyme scheme and a couplet. It can be hypothesised that the next step was using three quatrains and a couplet, and called the English Sonnet, being English they would ignore the reasons for 8/6. Up to this point no meter was stated but it was natural the English of the time to use a form we now know as Iambic Pentameter, that had been created by Chaucer. Geoffrey Chaucer - Linguistic. Chaucer wrote in continental accentual-syllabic metre, a style which had developed since around the twelfth century as an alternative to the alliterative Anglo-Saxon metre. (Court Poetry). Chaucer is known for metrical innovation, (writing in English) inventing the Rime Royal, and he was one of the first English poets to use the five-stress line, the iambic pentameter, in his work, with only a few anonymous short works using it before him. His most famous use was in the Canterbury Tales. Edmund Spenser's sonnet is based on the Petrarchan sonnet and still follows the 8/6 pattern, however whilst following the conclusion idea it does so by use of a quatrain and a couplet which had finally been adopted by English poets. The form still evolving, William Shakespeare, like many of his contemporaries, wrote poetry and drama in iambic pentameter. There is some debate over whether works such as Shakespeare's were originally performed with the rhythm prominent, or whether it was embedded in the patterns of normal speech as is common today. In either case, when read aloud, such verse naturally follows a beat. |
| Italian Sonnet Petrarchan |
No set structure originally, then followed the forms below, which are Iambic Pentameter |
| Italian Sonnet Basic Form |
Italian Octave.. a. b. b. a. . a. b. b. a Italian Sestet.. c. d. e. c. d. e. Pre-Iambic Pentameter |
| Italian Sonnet Sicilian |
Sicilian Octave.. a. b. a. b. . a. b. a. b Sicilian Sestet.. c. d. c. d. c. d. Pre-Iambic Pentameter |
| Italian Sonnet Sonetto Rispetto |
Ottava Rima Octave.. a. b. a. b. a. b. c. c. Italian Sestet.. d. e. f. d. e. f. Sicilian Sestet.. d. e. d. e. d. e. Pre-Iambic Pentameter |
| French Sonnet | Italian Octave, Sestet begins.. c. c. then.. d. c. c. d. .or. d. e. e. d. . or. d. e. d. e. Ten syllable meter |
| Spanish Sonnet | Italian Octave.. a. b. b. a. . a. b. b. a Rima Alterata.. c. d. c. d. c. d. Ten syllable meter |
| Rime Royal | .. a. b. a. b. b. c. c. . . d. e. d. e. e. f. f. No Meter Specified |
| Wyatt Sonnet | .. a. b. b. a. . a. c. c. a. . d. e. e. d. f. f. Any meter |
| Spenserian Sonnet | .. a. b. a. b. . b. c. b. c. . c. d. c. d. . e. e. Pre-Iambic Pentameter |
| English Sonnet (Shakespearian) |
.. a. b. a. b. . c. d. c. d. . e. f. e. f. . g .g. Iambic Pentameter |
Complex Variations |
Additions of Lines, Stanza or Sonnets |
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| Burns Sonnet | .. a. b. a. b. . c. d. d. c. . . . e. f. f. e.. . g. g Any meter |
| Byron's Sonnet | .. a.b. b. a. . a. c. c. a. . . . d. e. d. . e. d. e Any meter |
| Keats Sonnet | .. a. b. c. . a. b. d. . c. a. b. . c. d. e. . d. e. Any meter |
| Pushkin Sonnet | .. a. b. a. b. . . c. c. d. d. . . e. f. f. e. . . g. g. Any meter |
| Shelley's Sonnet | .. a. b. a. b. a. c. d. c. . . e. d. e. f. e. f.. Any meter |
| Tennyson Sonnet | .. a1. b. a2. b. c. d. d. c. e. f. e. a2. a1. f. e. Any meter |
| Wordsworth Sonnet | .. a. b. b. a. . a. c. c. a. . d. e. d. e. . f. f. Any Meter |
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| Arabian Sonnet | .. a. a. a. a. . . b. b. b. b. . . c. c. c. . . d. d. d. No Meter Specified |
| Australian Sonnet | .. a. b. b. a. . . c. d. d. c. . . e. f. f. e. . . g. g. Any meter |
| Dutch Sonnet | .. a. b. c. c. b. a. . .d . d. . . e. x. e. f. x. f. No Meter Specified |
| German Sonnet | .. a. b. b. a. . .b. c. c. .b . . . c. d. d. . . c. d. d. No Meter Specified |
| Irish Sonnet | .. a. b. a. b. . . b. c. b. c. . . c. d. c. d. . . d. d. No Meter Specified |
| Malaysian Sonnet | .. a. a. b. a. . . b. b. c. b. . . c. c. d. c. . . d. d. No Meter Specified |
| New Zealand Sonnet | .. a. b. a. b. . . b. b. c. c. . . c. d. c. d. . . e. e. No Meter Specified |
| Trinidad Sonnet | .. A. b. a. . c. b. c. . D. e. d. . . f. e. f. . . A. D. No Meter Specified |
| Vietnamese Sonnet (Luc Bat) |
.. a. (a. x. b). b. (b. x. c). c. (c. x. d). d. . (d. x. e).e. (e. x. f). f. (f. x. g). g. (g. x. a) No Meter Specified |
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| Alfred Dorn Sonnet | .. a. b. c. a. b. c. . . d. d. . . a. e. a. e. a. e. No Meter Specified |
| Blank Verse | No rhyme pattern Iambic Pentameter |
| Blues Sonnet | A. A. a. . . B. B. b. . . C. C. c. . . D. D. d. . e. e. Iambic Pentameter Or..Do yo thang |
| Brisbane Sonnet | .. a. b. c. a. . . b. c. d. e. . . f. d. e. f. . . g. g. Iambic Pentameter or Similar |
| Cornish Sonnet | .. a. b. a. c. b. C. . . d. e. d. f. e. F. . . C. F. Or.. A. b. a. c. b. c. . . D. e. d. f. e. f. . . A. D. Or.. A. b. a. c. b. c. . . d. e. d. f. e. F. . . A. F |
| Curtal Sonnet | .. a. b. c. a. b. c. . . d. c. b. d. c. Or. . a. b. c. a. b. c. . . d. b. c. d. c. last line spondee, or at least a tail shorter |
| Cyhydedd Fer Sonnet | .. a. a. b. b. . . c. c. d. d. . . e. e. f. f. . . g. g 8 syllable lines |
| Divino Sonetto | .. a. a. b. b. . . d. c. c. d. . . e. e. f. . . e. g. g No Meter Specified |
| Echo Sonnet | .. A. b. b. A1. . . a. c. c. A1. . . a. d. d. A1. . . A.A1 Iambic Pentameter |
| Envelope Sonnet | .. a. b. c. c. b. a. . . d. d. . . e. f. g. g. f. e. No Meter Specified |
| Free Form | No rhyme pattern No meter |
| Ghazal | .. A. A. . . b. A. . . b. A. . . b. A. . . b. A. . . b. A No Meter Specified |
| Ivorian | .. a. a. b. c. b. d. e. d. e. Quitain any variation of a. b. c. d. e. No Meter Specified |
| John Tee | .. A. B. c. d. e. f. A. B. g. h. i. j. A. B. No Meter Specified |
| Kyrielle | .. A. b. a. B. . . c. b. c. B. . . d. b. d. B. . . A. B. Or.,A.a.b.B...c.c.b.B...d.d.b.B...A.B. No Meter Specified |
| Mathlish | .. a. a. . b. b. b. . . c. c. . . d. d. d. . . . Quatrains e. f. e. f. . or. e. f. f. e. . or. e. e. f. f. 10 syllables or Iambic Pentameter or similar. |
| Pantoum | .. A. b1. a. b2. . b1. c1. b2. c2. . c1. a1. c2. A. . a1. A No Meter Specified |
| Rondel Prime | .. B. a. b. . . a. b. A. B. . . a. b. b. a. A. B Or.. A. B. a. b. . . a. b. A. B. . . a. b. a. b. A. B No Meter Specified |
| Rosarian | 1.. a. a. b. c. c. . . d. d. b. e. e. . . f. g. g. f 2.. a. a. b. c. c. . . d. d. b. e. e. . . f. g. f. g 3.. a. a. b. c. c. . . d. d. b. e. e. . . b. b. f. f |
| Rubaiyat | .. a. a. b. a. . . b. b. c. b. . . c. c. a. c. . . a. a. No Meter Specified |
| Saraband | 3. 4. 3. 4 any variation of tercet with any quatrain No Meter Specified |
| Sestina | .. a. b. c. d. e. . . e. a. d. c. b. . . b. e. c. (a. d.) No Meter Specified |
| Swannet | A1. b. b. A2. . . c. d. d. c. . . e. f. f. e. . . A1. A2. No Meter Specified |
| Terza Rima Sonnet | ... a. b. a. . . b. c. b. . . c. d. c. . . d. e. d. . . e. e. No Meter Specified |
| Triolet Sonnet | .. A. B. a. A. a. b. A. B. a. A. a. b. A. B. No Meter Specified |
| Villanelle Sonnet | A1. b. A2. a. b. A1. a. b. A2. a. b. A1. A1. A2. No Meter Specified |
| Wreathed or Un-wreathed Sonnet |
(Un-)Wreath Octave and Sestet or 3x (Un-)Wreath Quatrains and a Couplet |
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