| SONNET
The sonnet pattern was invented by Da Lentino in thirteenth century Italy, and it was used by Petrarch and Dante. A sonnet has fourteen lines. The pattern for the "Italian" sonnet breaks the poem into two sections: an octave (eight lines) and a sestet (six lines). Often the octave will ask a question ("Why won't my loved one respond to me?") and the sestet attempts to answer it ("My loved one has other things in mind.") or the octave may pose a problem and the sestet offer a solution. The break between the octave and the sestet may be signaled by a "volta," or giveaway word like "but" or "yet." Then you know that the tone of the sonnet is changing direction. The octave invariably rhymes A B B A or A B B A. This is the easiest way to tell if you are reading an Italian sonnet. The sestet has variations. It may rhyme C D C C D C or C C D C C D or any number of combinations, even C D C D C D. The Italian sonnet was popularized in England by Sir Thomas Wyatt who translated a number of Petrarch's sonnets into English. But English rhymes are harder to come by than Italian so the English soon developed a new rhyme scheme for the sonnet that would allow them to use more rhyming words within the fourteen lines. The "English" or "Shakespearean" sonnet breaks down into three quatrains and a couplet. The rhyme scheme is invariably A B A B C D C D E F E F G G. The meter is always iambic pentameter. Shakespeare - Sonnet #73
That time of year thou mayst in me behold
When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang
Upon those boughs which shake against the cold,
Bare ruined choirs where late the sweet birds sang.
In me thou see'st the twilight of such day
as after sunset fadeth in the west,
Which by and by black night doth take away,
Death's second self that seals up all in rest.
In me thou see'st the glowing of such fire,
That on the ashes of his youth doth lie,
As the deathbed whereon it must expire,
Consumed with that which it was nourished by.
This thou percievest, which makes they love more strong.
To love that well which thou must leave ere long.
Is the following sonnet Italian or English?
When I consider how my light is spent,
Ere half my days, in this dark world and wide,
And that one talent which is death to hide
Lodged with me useless, though my soul more bent
To serve therewith my Maker, and present
My true account, lest he returning chide;
"Doth God exact day-labor, light denied?"
I fondly ask; but Patience to prevent
That murmur, soon replies, "God doth not need
Either man's work or his own gifts; who best
Bear his mild yoke, they serve him best. His state
Is kingly. Thousands at his bidding speed
And post o'er land and ocean without rest:
They also serve who only stand and wait."
SASSY NOTE As there are so many forms of sonnets with varying rhyme patterns and styles this is only the basic information provided so far.
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