THE SONNET

Petrarch's sonnet model consisted of an octave and a sestet. The model was gradually transformed when he entered the British scene to adapt to the English language and British rhythm. The progressive transformation was due to:
1. Sir Thomas Wyatt who mainly translated Italian sonnets from Italian into English (see hand out);
2. Henry Howard Earl of Surrey who first reorganized the structure of the Elizabethan sonnet consisting of three quatrains and a couplet. Surrey's contribution to the sonnet is both thematical and structure. In a few words he tailored the sonnet to the needs of the English language, 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 Passa La Nave Mia Colma D'Oblio is arranged into 14 lines. In Petrarch's sonnets the reader can recognize the typical structure of the Italian sonnet.

The 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 it seems not to care even of the terrible weather conditions. He sighs, he has desires and hopes.

There follows the sestet where his pessimistic, sad moods are repeated: he weeps, he regrets life as well as the conditions of the weather puts his voyage at risk. In the ending tercet the speaker hides his feelings in the same way as he cannot see the stars. He seems unable to use reason and even wars 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 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:

 1. How does the poet express the analogy between life and voyage?

- 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", ...).

2. What is the function of the weather condition in the poem?

- The reference on weather conditions has the purpose of recalling to the sonneteer's feelings. It means that he is travelling across a difficult period of his life and his mood fell this.

 3. 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.