Textuality » 4A Interacting
The sonnet is a form of poetry. The word “sonnet” is connected to one of the aspects of the poem: sound; as a matter of fact it comes from the Italian word “sonetto”, wich means “little song”.
The sonnet form entered England during the Renaissance by Sir Thomas Wyatt. The first sonnets were simple translations of the Italian (or Petrarchan) form. The Petrarchan sonnet was arranged into an octave and a sestet. The octave was made up of two quatrains and the sestet of two tercets.
In a certain sense he octave posed the problem and in the sestet a possible solution was given.
On a second moment there was an evolution in the structure of the English sonnet due to Surrey. He transformed the structure of Petrarchan sonnet into the English structure which would become famous in the Elizabethan Age.
The new model consisted of three quatrains and a final couplet and was more suitable to the rhythm of the English language. The function of the three quatrains was to present three aspects of the same problem and the final couplet would give a possible solution.
The sonnet generally dealt with courtly love: the poet dedicated homeges to an unreachable lady. The lady had fair hair, blue-eyes and light-skin, she looked like an angel. So, it was an idealized kind of woman.
Shakespeare brought some innovation into the sonnet form: he made a parody of the courtly poetry and wrote about the “dark lady” (a dark-haired and skinned woman).