The Sonnet
With such a rich history the sonnet has been used by well-known poets such as Shakespeare and Yeats. Created in Sicily by Jacopo da Lentini in the thirteenth century, this form has been used to represent love, religious beliefs, and political ideology. Da Lentini developed the fourteen-line model which was initially intended to be sung “by combining two Sicilian quatrains- rhyming abababab- with a sestet rhymed cdecde” (Hacker 298). Similar to the English iambic pentameter, the Italian sonnet was written in lines of eleven syllables called a hendecasyllabic verse.
Additionally, the presence of rhyme was vital to identify the sonnet form. “The rhyme scheme varied until the adoption and use (first by Guittone d’Arezzo; then inevitably by Petrarch in the fourteenth century) of the double envelope quatrain on two rhyme schemes (abbaabba) followed by a sestet (cdecde, ceded, ccddee are three possibilities)” (Hacker 298). The poem is then divided into two parts. The first octave, the first eight lines, sets the tone, mood, and theme; while the last half, the sestet, modifies, contradicts, or proves it.
Shakespeare’s sonnet, “Sonnet 73,” is a good exemplification of this week’s analytical tools: tone and syntax, as well as the rules discussed above. “Sonnet 73” uses nature as a metaphor for aging. “That time of year thou mayst in me behold” shows the comparison between age and a time of year which is later defined as fall through the discussion of yellow leaves falling off the trees (Hacker 303). This immediately sets a serious and solemn tone as Shakespeare alludes to the fact he is losing something with age. Shakespeare also says “in me, thou seest the twilight of such day” (Hacker 303), which expands the metaphor from age to seasons, to age and twilight. Both twilight and seasons change in cycles, just like life changes in cycles, a connection that is further established by the mentioning of death. The line, “Death’s second self” makes the tone of the poem shift darker as all hope of life is gone; which is also continued by “as the death-bed whereon it must expire” (Hacker 303). Shakespeare establishes this constant solemn and sad tone that gets increasingly dreadful and dire as the poem continues. Nevertheless, the sestet ends with a contrast to Shakespeare’s initial point of sadness and loss. “This thou perceiv’st which makes thy love more strong,” shows that despite the negativity associated with death, aging forces you to learn how to love and experience the world in a heightened, brighter manner (Hacker 303). Furthermore, the abab cdcd efef gg rhyme scheme helps identify this as a sonnet, as this is an essential aspect of the form.
The sonnet is “a form that invites close engagement, and that engagement often becomes a kind of dialogue with its past and present uses and connotations” (Hacker 297).
Hacker, Marilyn “The Sonnet.” An Exaltation of Forms: Contemporary Poets Celebrate the Diversity of Their Art. Edited by Anne Finch and Katherine Varnes. Ann Arbor: U. of Michigan P, 2002. pp. 303.
