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

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.

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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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)

This sonnet serves as a good example to show the use of this form because it is short and brings out the emotions and ensnares them in a trap, which tells us about the imagery used in this sonnet. I think William Shakespeare described his love for a woman using his imagination and the surroundings of the outside world to make people understand how he felt which is shown in lines 5 and 6.

I think that this sonnet is a good illustration of a poem in the time of old but does not belong in the modern world even though that it is quite nice to have a record of the different poems that have been created in the past, which is part of our heritage.

Opposing this is a sonnet by Percy Bysshe Shelley called Ozymandias of Egypt, which is a petrarchan form written in 1816, at the time of the French revolution. The sonnet is about a crumpled up statue of Ozymandias with a pedestal at the bottom saying

“My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings: Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!” (Line 10)

I believe he contradicted himself with his catch phrase because there is nothing there to show people that his claims are correct.

I think that Ozymandias had a kingdom that he was proud of his achievements and was ruthless because there was a lot of destruction and he had a statue and a claim that proved it. The theme of this sonnet is “nothing lasts forever” – mortality because he is boasting about his great new founded kingdom but there is actually nothing left standing upright.

The imagery that is described in lines 13 – 15 emphasise the message but also allows you to imagine what happened and how it happened. At first when I personally read the first five lines of the sonnet, I thought it was a person lying there dead waiting for someone to find him and take him away.

In my opinion, old language is used which means is not very comprehensive at first but it is related with the time period, and takes into account what people were like in that era because it is associated with the sonnet and would not make sense otherwise.

The poet uses a sonnet form to underline his message that life is too brief and too short to be egotistical towards God. He uses this sonnet to express a rebuke to cruel and unfair politicians. Percy wanted a romantic view of the world and did not want a world like Ozymandias’ era but it’s still like it was along time ago even though we have votes, we still have taxes and if something doesn’t go the way politicians want, we have to pay more tax. The moral of this sonnet was nothing lasts forever so it is teaching politicians that it will never be the same all the time. In my opinion, this sonnet was published at the best time – the French revolution shows them the moral and to help them adapt to the way of the public.

The next sonnet I am going to look at is The Soldier, which is by Rupert Brooke (1887 – 1915). The theme of this sonnet is, England is the best because Rupert keeps describing the wonders of England in lines 6 – 8, in a sense that it will never leave his heart and he will never leave England. In the sonnet, he refers to himself as being a dead soldier and lets us remember the glorious works of England like in lines 1 and 2

“If I should die, think only this of me: That there’s some corner of a foreign field That is for ever England.”

The subject of this type of poem is the death of a soldier, which relates to the age of the poet because he obviously died young so he must have been in world war one. In my opinion, I think he was writing about his personal experiences since he must have made a lot of close friends that had saved his life many a time. It could have been a phrase that inspired him to write the sonnet. The structure of this type of poem is a petrarchan form, which is strange because he was English and is talking about his homeland but the sonnet form was Italian so it is ironic that he has used a different structure for his poem.

The imagery of this poem is old but has some relation with religion for the reason that he talks about good and evil in a war, which comes into the situation of world war one and has a constructive aspect on what he is writing about.

The language is more modern than most, which is more comprehensive because he is writing about a situation not too long ago and he is using the two to make it more emphatic which is representing an optimistic image.

The reason for using a petrarchan form is because the separation between the octet and the sestet represents an expression of national pride.

In my judgement, Ozymandias of Egypt and The Soldier are interconnected because Ozymandias of Egypt shows us the message about how nothing lasts forever and The Soldier shows us how we should remember the people who have fought for their own country, England. The only difference I could think of is that the period in time that they both belong to are different and that is shown in the language that each of them has chosen.

I feel that Ozymandias of Egypt and “Shall I compare thee…?” are opposite because Ozymandias tells us how nothing lasts forever and “Shall I compare thee…?” shows us how if something is written down it becomes eternal and undying. I believe that these two sonnets cancel each other out because they are contrary. The only similarity between these two sonnets is the time in which they were written.

I believe that The Soldier and “Shall I compare thee…?” have the same perspective but in a different phase in time because The Soldier talks about how you should remember the people who are acting out patriotism for their country and “Shall I compare thee…?” is saying how the poet is remembering his loved one and will never forget her but in a sense so is England to people who have fought for their country.

BY Johnathan Lamb 11C