The popularity of the sonnet blossomed in the Elizabethan era relying on the standard subject matter of the torments of sexual love usually within a polite love convention.
The sonnet has become the most popular and enduring form of English verse. English poets of almost every era have followed and adapted the sonnet to produce some of their best work. The standard courtly love subject matter of early sonnets was extended in the 17th century by John Donne into religion, while Milton extended it to politics. The early eighteenth century saw a decline in the sonnet's popularity, but there were the odd successes and attempts by poets who did not use the sonnet often. Although largely neglected in the 18th century, the sonnet was revived in the 19th by Wordsworth, Keats and Baudelaire, and is still widely used. Irregular variations on the sonnet form have included the 12-line sonnet sometimes used by Elizabethan poem.
The Petrarchan sonnet is distinguished by having a two part division; the sonnet's rhyme scheme divides the poem's 14 lines into two parts, an octave and a sestet. The rhyme scheme for the octave is typically: abba abba. While there are a few possibilities for the sestet, including: cdecde, cdccdc, or cdedce.
The octave presents a problem or situation which is then resolved or commented on in the sestet. The transition from octave to sestet usually coincides with a ‘turn’ in the argument or mood of the poem. This divides the thought into two opposing or complementary phases of the same idea
The octave and sestet division is not always kept; the rhyme-scheme is often varied, but within limits, no Italian sonnet has more than five rhymes. Iambic pentameter is essentially the meter.
Although the English or Shakespearean sonnet grew from the Petrarch sonnet it varies in form. Instead of the octave and sestet divisions, this sonnet characteristically symbolizes four divisions of three quatrains (each with a rhyme-scheme of its own) and a final rhymed couplet. The typical rhyme-scheme for the English sonnet is: abab cdcd efef gg.
The couplet at the end is usually a commentary on the foregoing, a short close. Though not invented by Shakespeare, the form was perfected by Shakespeare. The reason for the greater number of rhymes in the Shakespearean sonnet is due to the greater difficulty finding rhymes in English.
In Shakespeare the ‘turn’ comes with the final couplet which often undercuts the thought created in the rest of the poem.
I am going to examine some of the metaphors used in the sonnet with the first line,
“Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?” I like this sonnet because it is full of metaphors and it describes the situation in such a way that you can actually picture the scene. One particular metaphor that the poet uses which I really like is:-
“Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines.”
I like this metaphor because it describes the sun as the “eye of heaven”. This sentence also says that the sun shines too hot down on the earth which works well with the fact that the sun can also be the eye of heaven in a religious point of view The poet uses another metaphor which works well with the sonnet. The metaphor is:-
“Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade.”
I think this metaphor has two contributions to the sonnet. One is that it is saying Death is an actual person not just something that happens to everyone. The second is that it is saying, Death can never brag that it took your beauty because you will possess it for eternity. This line implies that Death usually boasts of his conquests over life.
I am going to compare the rhyming in two sonnets with titles, “Leda and the Swan” and “Upon Westminster Bridge”.
In the poem, “Leda and the Swan”, there is a very clear and traditional rhyme scheme which prolongs through out the whole poem. Whereas, “Upon Westminster Bridge”, doesn’t follow a traditional rhyme scheme and is not like a traditional sonnet.
The rhyme scheme in, “Leda and the Swan”, is a traditional Petrarchan sonnet with a rhyme scheme of: abab cdcd efg efg. This rhyme scheme works well with the “turn” after the octet.
“A shudder in the loins engenders there
The broken wall,”
This is when the poet moves away from the idea of ‘the swan’ raping the girl to saying what a disaster ‘the swan’ had caused by creating this baby because of all the havoc it set off.
The rhyming scheme in, “Upon Westminster Bridge”, is not a traditional Elizabethan or Petrarchan rhyme scheme because if you have to stick to a rhyming scheme you are looking for words to rhyme, whereas if you don’t have to follow a rhyme scheme you have much more freedom to write the sonnet which Yeats has done very successfully. The sonnet is written in the structure of a traditional Elizabethan sonnet and the last line of the sonnet is a ‘punch line’ to finish the sonnet.
“And all that mighty heart is lying still!”
This line of the sonnet finishes it off very neatly because it simply supports the stillness and silence of London at a morning sunrise. This I find is a very ingenious way to end a sonnet.
I am going to write about the alliteration that is used in the sonnet titled, “God’s Grandeur”. The poet, Gerald Manley Hopkins, uses a lot of alliteration to tie the lines together because it causes stress to be put on the sound that is being repeated. Another sentence with a large amount of alliteration in it is:-
“And wears man’s smudge and shares man’s smell:”
This particular sentence flows very easily because of all the ‘s’ sounds which appears in nearly every word. This makes the sentence have more emphasis on it than usual which keeps the reader drawn in to the poem because of all the same sounding words. I like it how the poet uses this amount of alliteration in the poem because it creates emphasis where other poems wouldn’t which makes the poem more interesting and exciting.
Another sentence with alliteration that I like is:-
“It will flame out, like shining from shook foil;”
You can’t capture shining from shook foil. You can only feel it, see it and take it inside yourself and let it echo.
