Andrea Furlan, 4th October 2011

AN INTRODUCTION ABOUT SONNETS AND DENOTATIVE ANALYSIS OF PETRARCH’S SONNET PASSA LA NAVE MIA COLMA D’OBLIO

Petrarch’s sonnet model consisted of an octave and a sestet; the model was gradually transformed when it entered the British scene to adapt to the English language and reader. The progressive transformation was due to:

1. Sir Thomas Wyatt who mainly translated Italian sonnets from Italian into English (see handout).

2. Henry Howard Earl of Surrey who first reorganized the structure of Petrarch’s model into the typical structure of the Elizabethan consisting of three quatrains and a couplet. Surrey’s contribution to the sonnet is both thematic and structural. In a few words he tailored the sonnet to the needs of English language.

3. But the most creative and innovative sonneteer was William Shakespeare. He was able to reshape the typical conventions of the sonnet (courtly love poetry) to create something new.

The sonnet consists of (is organized / arranged into) fourteen lines. In Petrarch’s sonnet the reader can recognize the typical structure of the Italian sonnet. The first octave introduces the problem, creating a comparison between the speaker’s life and a ship travelling in tormented seas, at midnight. The skipper is worried by private thoughts that are so sad that he seems not to care even of the terrible weather condition. He sighs his desires and hopes.

There follows the sestet where his pessimistic, sad mood is repeated: he weeps, he regrets his life whereas the conditions of weather put his voyage at risk. In the ending tercet the speaker hides his feelings in the same way as he comes to see the stars. He seems unable to use reason and even worse to be able to reach the harbour.

It goes without saying that there is an apparent analogy between the poet’s life and the voyage progress. Unfortunately, such life does not sound easy but rather unveils difficulties, problems, torments that all together seem to make the poet unable to come to an autonomous solution of his pains.

Questions:

• How is the analogy between life and voyage expressed?

It is expressed through the use of words relating to the difficulties of life, such as “sospiri”, “lagrimar”, “sdegni”, “ignoranzia” next to other words regarding sea voyages (“nave”, “mare”, “remo”, “vela”, …). 

• What is the role played by weather conditions?

They represent the pains and the suffering the poet has to face as he goes through life, because bad weather conditions make a voyage more difficult just like troubles make life harder.

• How does the intelligent reader understand that the voyage is an excuse to talk about something else?

 He understands that thanks to the fact that every word relating to a sea voyage is followed by a term with regard to human feelings and emotions. For example, in the expression “pioggia di lagrimar”, the use of the word “lagrimar” shows the poet’s intention not to talk about weather, but about his pains.