English
Marc-Antoine Linstädter
The development of the English sonnet
Seminar paper
Ruhr-Universität Bochum
Englisches Seminar
“The development of the English sonnet”
Sommer 2006
Marc-A. Linstädter
Contents
I Introduction.............................................................................................................................. 3
II The early Italian sonnet .......................................................................................................... 4
III The Petrarchan sonnet ........................................................................................................... 6
IV The English sonnet................................................................................................................ 7
V The Shakespearean Sonnet................................................................................................... 10
VI Conclusion .......................................................................................................................... 12
Literature .................................................................................................................................. 14
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I Introduction
Since its invention in the south of Italy around 1235 A.D.1, the sonnet has been used by
numerous poets as a form of literary expression, but surprisingly, its main features remained
nearly unaltered throughout the centuries2. However, the sonnet has undergone a very
dynamic development, which I will try to at least partly describe in this paper. A sonnet, “per
definitionem” consists out of “only” 14 hendecasyllabic lines of verse, which break into octet
and sestet, yet it is still considered a major lyric genre3 used by authors to this very day.
The term “sonnet” or “sonetto” originally meant (in “Provençal”) “short lyric poem” (or
“light poem”). However, due to the massive amount of sonnet-production in Italy and the
achievements of writers like Petrarch, the meaning narrowed down to what we today regard
as a sonnet. In 1575 A.D., the English poet George Gascoigne gave a first, but still rather
blurry definition of what he conceived to be a sonnet:
[…] Then have you Sonets: some thinke that all Poemes (being short) may be called
Sonets […] but I can beste allow to call those Sonets whiche are of fourtene lynes,
every lyne conteyning tenne syllables. The first twelve do rhyme in staves of foure
lines by cross meetre, and the last two ryming togither do conclude the whole4.
In this disquisition, I will try to give an overview over the tradition of sonneteering from the
early Italian sonnet to Wyatt, Sidney, Spenser and Shakespeare, using selected examples from
their works to emphasize relevant features, as well as providing an analysis of the
transformation of the sonnet .
To illustrate the most important aspects of its evolution, I will at first summarize how the
sonnet came into being in Italy during the 13th century and outline its development ending
with a short description of Petrarchs work. The following part of my analysis will then be
concerned with the English sonnet and highlight structural as well as topical changes different
authors using the sonnet imposed upon its form. Accordingly, my leading questions will be
how the sonnet has been transformed throughout history, where the particular achievements
of selected major authors can be seen in its tradition, as well as to what extent their
biographical situation influenced their sonnets and especially their composition of sonnet1
Spiller, Michael R.G.: The development of the sonnet, p. 9
Berman, Sandra L.: The sonnet over time, p. 3
3
Berman, Sandra L.: The sonnet over time, p. 2
4
Gascoigne, George: Certayne Notes of Instruction, in Elizabethan Critical Journal, vol. 1, p.55
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