Textuality » 4A Interacting
THE SONNET
The sonnet is a lyrical form of poetry. It is composed by a lyric poem of fourteen lines. Originating in Italy in the 12th and 13th centuries, the sonnet has since become the most popular and enduring form of English verse.
We have two sonnet models. The Italian or Petrarchan and the English or Shakespearen.
The Italian sonnet is divided into two sections by two different groups of rhyming sounds. The first 8 lines is called the octave(consist of a first division of eight lines rhyming) a b b a a b b a the sestet consist of 6 lines rhyming and can have either two or three rhyming sounds, arranged in a variety of ways: c d c d c d , c d d c d c , c d e c d e , c d e c e d , c d c e d c. The octave presents the narrative, states the pro position or raises a question; the sestet drives home the narrative by making an abstract comment, applies the preposition, or solves the problem.
The English sonnet, is so different from the Italian sonnet has the simplest and most flexible pattern of all sonnets, consisting of 3 quatrains of alternating rhyme and a couplet: a b a b , c d c d , e f e f , g g each quatrain develops a specific idea, but one closely related to the ideas in the other quatrains. Instead of the octave and sestet division, this sonnet characteristically have four divisions: three quatrains(each with a rhyme-scheme of its own) and a rhymed couplet. Thus the typical rhyme- scheme for the English sonnet is : a b a b , c d c d , e f e f , g g