The Sonnet Form
Iambic Pentameter
Italian Sonnet Form - Petrarch
The original form of the sonnet, according to [Williams86], was the Italian
sonnet, developed by the fourteenth-century poet Petrarch. It consisted of
an eight line octet (also known as the "Italian octave") and a six line
sestet (also known as the "Sicilian sestet"). Each section of an Italian
sestet has a specific rhyme scheme and a specific purpose.
The rhyme scheme for the octet is ABBA ABBA, and the purpose of the octet
is to present a situation or a problem. The rhyme scheme for the sestet
can be either CDECDE or CDCDCD,
and the purpose of the sestet is to comment
on or resolve the situation or problem posed in the octet.
When this (or any sonnet form) is used in English, it is traditionally in
iambic pentameter, and, as Williams writes, "the tradition is a strong
one."
Spenserian Sonnet Form
[Williams86] next describes the Spenserian Sonnet, a sonnet variation
developed in the sixteenth century by English poet Edmund Spenser. While
few poets have used this form, it serves as a bridge between the Italian
sonnet and the form used by Shakespeare.
In a Spenserian sonnet, the rhyme
scheme used is ABAB BCBC CDCD EE, and there does not appear to be a
requirement that the initial octet sets up a problem which the closing
sestet answers. Instead, the form is treated as three quatrains (linked by
the connected rhyme scheme described above) followed by a couplet. Again,
iambic pentameter is used.
English Sonnet Form - Shakespeare
The English Sonnet is a form, which Williams says was "developed by
Shakespeare himself to accommodate the Italian sonnet to relatively-rhyme
poor English, avoiding the requirement for triple rhymes in the sestet."
Williams goes on to say that "the rhetorical pattern of the poem changes
slightly… as the… situation or problem presented in the octave is now
dealt with tentatively in the next four lines and summarily in the terminal
couplet. Some English sonnets… develop through a series of three examples
in three quatrains with a conclusion in the couplet." So the content of an
English Sonnet is not coupled as closely to the form as it is in the
Italian Sonnet.
The rhyme scheme of the English sonnet is ABAB CDCD EFEF GG. As noted,
Shakespeare has eliminated the close linking, via rhymes, of the individual
quatrains, presumably to allow more flexibility in English, which does not
provide as many rhyming possibilities as Italian.
One of the interesting elements of Shakespeare's sonnets is the
"enjambment" of "phrases" with "sonnet lines." This is done frequently in
Shakespeare's plays (which use a great deal of non-rhymed iambic
pentameter, a form known as "blank verse"); less frequently in the sonnets.
In an "enjambed" line, the textual phrases extend beyond the end of the
sonnet lines, and a textual phrase begins or ends in the middle of a line
of iambic pentameter.
EXAMPLE HERE
The "Blues Sonnet" Form
[ Turco86 ] describes an interesting variation on the sonnet, which he
calls the Blues Sonnet. He describes the blues sonnet as "a triplet stanza
derived from the Black jazz tradition of lamentation or complaint, rhyming
Aaa. Usually written in loose iambic pentameter measures, the second line
[is] an incremental repetition of the first line, and the third line is a
synthetic parallel giving a consequence of the first two lines." An
example, in strict iambic pentameter:
The train she rides is fifteen coaches long.
The train she rides is fifteen coaches long.
The girl I love is on that train and gone.
The ABAB rhyme scheme of the quatrains in Shakespeare's sonnets offer many
possibilities for "extracting" blues sonnets; for example, the first and
third lines, with a minor modification, of Sonnet 43:
When most I wink, then do my eyes best see.
When most I wink, then do my eyes best see.
[ For ] when I sleep, in dreams they look on thee.
Maintained by: Charles Wolff
Last Updated: 6/5/98