The sonnet: A historical analysis of the greatest form of poetry.

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        The sonnet: A historical analysis of the greatest form of poetry

In this piece of English coursework, I have been asked to look at what I think is one of the greatest forms of poetry in history, which I personally think is a sonnet. In this topic, there are two main categories for sonnets, the first is Italian, and the second is English. Some say there is a Spenserian sonnet made by Edmund Spenser who varied the English form to make it slightly irregular. All sonnets have 14 lines in total.

The Italian sonnet form is called the Petrarchan form. The form seems to have originated in the 13th century among the Sicilian school of court poets, who were influenced by the love poetry of Provençal troubadours (who were poets of high regards). It is usually an octet followed by a sestet. When the break between the verses occur the mood of the sonnet changes sometimes to differentiate between each other. The English sonnet form is called the Shakespearean form, which is usually made up of three quatrains and a couplet and the transition changes before the couplet. An octet is an eight-line verse, a sestet is a six-line verse, a quatrain is a four-line verse, and a couplet is a two-line verse.

We were asked to write an analysis of a sonnet called “Shall I compare thee…?”. This is a perfect example of a sonnet and a specific one too because it is formed in a Shakespearean sonnet which has three quatrains and a couplet. In this particular sonnet it asks questions and answers them in the same quatrain.

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The theme of this sonnet is of undying love because the poet makes his love immortal by writing about her, which shows in: -

“When in eternall lines to time thou grow’st”(Line 12)

I understand that the language in this poem is old but is comprehensible because even though it was written in the 16th Century, it still relates to the modern world. He makes some extraordinary claims throughout this sonnet, which I interpreted as she is more beautiful than death and over time his love for her grows in his heart.

This sonnet serves as a good example ...

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