Probably the most familiar of the poetic forms in English is the Sonnet. In Post 4, an informal approach to poetry: 4-stanza, we covered the structural elements of the sonnet. Let’s review:
There are two basic variations of the sonnet in English: The Italian, or Petrarchan Sonnet, and the English, or Shakespearean Sonnet. A sonnet is a 14-line poem which usually expresses a single thought or feeling on the part of the poet. The Italian Sonnet is organized into an octave and a sestet; the English Sonnet employs three quatrains and a couplet. The Italian Sonnet rhyme-scheme is abbaabba cdecde, though the sestet varies considerably. The English Sonnet rhyme-scheme is abab cdcd efef gg. Both are typically in iambic pentameter.
Now let’s look at how the form augments the sense, first in the Italian Sonnet:
London, 1802
Milton! thou shouldst be living at this hour:
England hath need of thee: she is a fen
Of stagnant waters: altar, sword, and pen,
Fireside, the heroic wealth of hall and bower,
Have forfeited their ancient English dower
Of inward happiness. We are selfish men;
Oh! raise us up, return to us again;
And give us manners, virtue, freedom, power.
Thy soul was like a Star, and dwelt apart:
Thou hadst a voice whose sound was like the sea:
Pure as the naked heavens, majestic, free,
So didst thou travel on life’s common way,
In cheerful godliness; and yet the heart
The lowliest duties on herself did lay.
William Wordsworth
The rhyme-scheme here is typically Petrarchan: abba, abba, with a variable sestet, cddece. Also typical is the arrangement of ideas: the octet presents an issue, and the sestet resolves or comments on it.
Wordsworth begins the octet by invoking John Milton, the author of one of the greatest poems in the English language, “Paradise Lost.” To Wordsworth, Milton is the paradigm of all that is good in British values, and contrasts him with the current state of London in 1802, a materialistic, selfish society to Wordsworth. The first line of the sestet begins with a “turn” in idea, or the volta. In contrast to the mundane concepts in the octet, Milton was elevated: “Thy soul was like a Star.” Wordsworth now delineates the exalted virtues of Milton, again in contrast to London’s debased values in the octet.
In contrast, the English or Shakespearean Sonnet is structured with three quatrains and a concluding couplet, with the rhyme scheme: abab cdcd efef gg. This format gives rise to three variations and a concluding couplet; movement from introductory idea, to elaboration, to resolution, to concluding couplet. The most famous of English Sonnets are, of course, Shakespeare’s:
Sonnet XXX
When to the sessions of sweet silent thought
I summon up remembrance of things past,
I sigh the lack of many a thing I sought,
And with old woes new wail my dear time’s waste:
Then can I drown an eye, unused to flow,
For precious friends hid in death’s dateless night,
And weep afresh love’s long since cancell’d woe,
And moan the expense of many a vanish’d sight:
Then can I grieve at grievances foregone,
And heavily from woe to woe tell o’er
The sad account of fore-bemoaned moan,
Which I new pay as if not paid before.
But if the while I think on thee, dear friend,
All losses are restor’d and sorrows end.
The typical Shakespearean Sonnet format of three quatrain variations and a concluding couplet. In stanza one, Shakespeare introduces the concept of a sad “remembrance of things past,” and the sorrow accompanying his “dear time’s waste.” Stanza two is a variation on that theme, this time lamenting the passing of friends and of love. The third Stanza is like a dirge, with “heavy” words, such as grieve, forgone, heavily, woe, fore-bemoaned, and moan. However, the couplet begins with a very strong “turn”: “But.” We have an internal sense of the function of that word, a turning or rebuttal or reversal of sorts. In this case, the couplet represents a complete reversal of the tone and content of the quatrains. The somber and regretful tone of the quatrains are dispersed by the thought of his “dear friend.” “All losses are restor’d and sorrows end.” Three variations and a concluding couplet.
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(Note: You can view most poems on the website, Poetry Foundation.)
(Note: My Poetry Recordings Playlist: At the very bottom of the post Is a recording. To view my entire playlist of poetry recordings, hover over “1/18” in the upper right corner, then click on ‘My Poetry Recordings Playlist:´and make selection.)
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