Textuality » 4A Interacting
GBoccalon - Recap of the Sonnet
The term "sonnet" belongs to the musical code and its meaning is little song.
There are two types of sonnet: the Petrarchan or Italian sonnet, and the Shakespearean or English sonnet.
The Italian sonnet was born in the 14th century in Italy. It consists ofb two quatrains and two tercets.
The quatrains present and describe a problem and the tercets give a possible resolution.
Thomas Whyatt translated a Petrarchan sonnet and introduced this form of poetry into England.
The English sonnet consists of a quatrain and a couplet.
The English sonnet spoke about the poet's love for an unreachable lady.
The Shakespeare's sonnet provides an important innovation: the addressees. They are two: an unknown, young man and a real woman called "the dark lady".
So Shakespeare didn't dedicate his sonnets to unreachable people, but he dedicated his poetical composition to existent and real people.