THE ELIZABETHAN SONNET FRANCESCO PETRARCA 1304 1374 WILLIAM

THE ELIZABETHAN SONNET FRANCESCO PETRARCA (1304 – 1374) WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE (1564 – 1616)

The sonnet Main characteristics • A fourteen-line poem in iambic pentameter. • A carefully patterned rhyme scheme. • Invented by the Italian Iacopo da Lentini in the first half of the 13 th century. • Introduced into England by Sir Thomas Wyatt and the Earl of Surrey • Two types of sonnet: Petrarchan and Shakespearean.

The sonnet Petrarchan sonnet (14 th century) • An octave often rhyming ABBA. • A sestet rhyming CDE DCE or CDC DCD. • A turning point at the end of the 8 th line. • The 9 th line is sometimes introduced by words like: and, if, so, but, yet.

The sonnet Petrarchan sonnet The octave has the purpose to: • introduce a problem (the poet describes his being struck with the sight of his woman) • express a desire • reflect on reality • present a situation that causes doubt or conflict in the poet

The sonnet Petrarchan sonnet • The first quatrain introduces the problem. • The second quatrain develops it. • The beginning of the sestet is known as the volta, and it introduces a pronounced change in tone in the sonnet. • The sestet’s purpose is to make a comment on the problem or to apply a solution to it.

Francesco Petrarca Canzoniere (written between 1336 and 1374) Sonnet XC Erano i capei d'oro a l'aura sparsi che 'n mille dolci nodi gli avolgea, e l'vago lume oltra misura ardea di quei begli occhi, ch'or ne son sí scarsi; e 'l viso di pietosi color' farsi, non so se vero o falso, mi parea: i' che l'ésca amorosa al petto avea, qual meraviglia se di súbito arsi? A B B A Non era l'andar suo cosa mortale, ma d'angelica forma; et le parole sonavan altro, che pur voce humana. Uno spirito celeste, un vivo sole fu quel ch'i'vidi: et se non fosse or tale, piagha per allentar d'arco non sana. C D E D C E A portrait of Laura, Petrarch’s beloved

Shakespearian sonnet (16 th – 17 th century) Author William Shakespeare Country England Language Early Modern English Genre Renaissance poetry Publisher Thomas Thorpe Publication date 1609

The sonnet Shakespearean sonnet • Three quatrains rhyming ABAB CDCD EFEF. • A couplet rhyming GG. • A turning point at the end of the 8 th line. • The 9 th line is sometimes introduced by words like: and, if, so, but, yet, nor.

The sonnet Shakespearean sonnet • The first quatrain introduces an idea. • The second quatrain complicates it • The third complicates it still further • The final epigrammatic couplet resolves the whole thing

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE SONNETS (1609) SONNET CXXX My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun; a Coral is far more red than her lips' red; b If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun; a If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head. b I have seen roses damask'd, red and white, c But no such roses see I in her cheeks; d And in some perfumes is there more delight c Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks. d The Dark Lady…

The sonnet 4. Table of comparison Petrarchan sonnet Shakespearean sonnet 14 lines of iambic pentameter Division into 2 sections: the octave presents a problem or situation the sestet solves or clarifies the situation Division into 4 sections: 3 quatrains present a problem or situation a couplet solves or summarizes the problem. Rhyme scheme: ABAB or ABBA for the octave CDEDCE or CDCDEE for the sestet Rhyme scheme: ABAB Quatrain I CDCD Quatrain II EFEF Quatrain III GG Couplet

Italian Stanza division Rhyme scheme Theme Turning point 8+6 (4+4; 3+3) Elizabethan 4+4+4+2 ABBA CDE DCE (CDC ABAB CDCD EFEF GG CDC. . ) Courtly love Love, beauty, art, decay, religion After line 8 After line 12

Who are the addressees of Shakespeare’s Sonnets? HENRY WRIOTHESLEY 3 RD EARL OF SOUTHAMPTON (1573 – 1624): POSSIBLY THE “FAIR YOUTH” IN SHAKESPEARE’S SONNETS MARY FITTON (1578 -1647): POSSIBLY THE “DARK LADY” IN SHAKESPEARE’S SONNETS WILLIAM HERBERT 3 RD EARL OF PEMBROKE (1580 – 1630): POSSIBLY THE “FAIR YOUTH” IN SHAKESPEARE’S SONNETS

HENRY WRIOTHESLEY 3 RD EARL OF SOUTHAMPTON, when quite a young man became in a very few years after Shakespeare’s first arrival in London his chosen patron, and accepted the poet's dedication of the "Venus and Adonis" in 1593, and in the following year the "Tarquin and Lucrece. “ At the age of twenty, WILLIAM HERBERT 3 RD EARL OF PEMBROKE had an affair with Mary Fitton (who has been suggested as a possible model for the Dark Lady of the sonnets), whom he impregnated. MARY FITTON was an Elizabethan gentlewoman who became a maid of honour to Queen Elizabeth I. She is noted for her scandalous affairs with William Herbert.