MB UNIUD

The term "sonnet" derives from the Occitan word "sonet" and the Italian word "sonetto" both meaning "little song".

Talking about the Sonnet, we must underline that this form of poetry is strictly related to music. The two famous sonnet types are the Italian (Petrarchan) and the English (Shakespearean). The Petrarchan, is distinguished by its bipartite division into the octave and the sestet: the octave consisting of a first division of eight lines rhyming sonnet and the sestet, or second division, consisting of six lines rhyming.

The English (Shakespearean) sonnet, on the other hand, is so different from the Italian as to allow a separate classification. The form was introduced into England by Thomas Wyatt, who translated Petrarchan sonnets and left over thirty examples of his own in English. Instead of the octave and sestet divisions, this sonnet characteristically embodies four divisions: three quatrains (each with a rhyme-scheme of its own) and a rhymed couplet.

Sonnets usually have a common theme: courtly love: poets expressed their feelings, their love, their passion for an unattainable Lady.

Shakespeare brought some new features into the sonnet: while sonneteers wrote about beautiful women, Shakespeare wrote about a "dark lady". This is a new theme for a sonnet. Besides sonnets addressed to "the dark lady" he also wrote about a young nice looking man.

The man and the lady were completely different; as a matter of fact the man was really nice looking, while the girl wasn't. The poet wrote about her physical appearance; this is certainly an uncourtly and unromantic theme, but a new and revolutionary one.