1. The Sonnet

2. A short history of the sonnet
The term “sonnet” derives from the Italian “sonetto”, a “little sound or song”.
The first examples are those written by Iacopo da Lentini in 1230;
The sonnet establishes its importance as a poetic form with Petrarch’s “Canzoniere” (started in 1335);
Petrarch describes his love for his beloved Laura using the typical features of courtly love.
The poet is a man who suffers because of a disdainful lady who is beautiful, and often cruel;
He feels contrasting sensations: happiness or sorrow, love or hatred according to the presence or absence of the lady or to his different states of mind;

3. Italian sonnet Petrarchan sonnet
rigid structural form: the poet is asked to express his thoughts and feelings in fourteen lines
Petrarchan sonnet
Fourteen iambic pentameters divided into:
two stanzas, one octave and one sestet, usually rhyming:
ABBAABBA.
CDECDE or CDCDCD (even if the rhyme scheme sometimes varies).
The function of the octave is:
to introduce a problem or a situation
The function of the sestet is:
to provide an answer or comments on the situation and expresses the personal feelings of the poet.

4. The sonnet in England
Sir Thomas Wyatt (1500 – 1542) – first English poet to introduce the
Italian sonnet to England.
Initially, he simply translates the poems into English;
then, to adapt the Italian pattern to the English language, he leaves the octave unchanged and modifies the sestet dividing it into a quatrain and a couplet.
The Petrarchan theme of love remains unchanged.
Sometimes Wyatt’s quatrain and couplet seem more like a sestet;
It is only with the Earl of Surrey (c ) that the final couplet becomes separate from the quatrains and comments on the previous twelve lines.
Surrey also changes the octave into two quatrains with different rhymes;
The final pattern that distinguishes the Elizabethan pattern from the Petrarchan one consists of three quatrains and a couplet, and its rhyme scheme is: ABAB-CDCD-EFEF-GG.

5. The sonnet in England Fortune Theme
The couplet is always epigrammatic: it has the function of summing up the subject matter dealt with in the previous twelve lines or reversing the meaning previously discussed.
Fortune
The fortune of the genre is due to the publication of “Astrophel and Stella” (1591) - a sequence of sonnets by Philip Sidney.
A sonnet sequence is a series of sonnets on a particular theme addressed to a particular person.
Theme
The commonest theme is love and in the case of Sidney, his love with Stella.
In accordance with Petrarch’s model, it is a conflictual love, full of tenderness and bitterness, hatred and possession.

6. The sonnet in England Fortune Theme
The couplet is always epigrammatic: it has the function of summing up the subject matter dealt with in the previous twelve lines or reversing the meaning previously discussed.
Fortune
The fortune of the genre is due to the publication of “Atrophel and Stella” (1591) - a sequence of sonnets by Philip Sidney.
A sonnet sequence is a series of sonnets on a particular theme addressed to a particular person.
Theme
The commonest theme is love and in the case of Sidney, his love with Stella.
In accordance with Petrarch’s model, it is a conflicting love, full of tenderness and bitterness, hatred and possession.

7. Main characteristics
A fourteen-line poem in iambic*pentameter.
A carefully patterned rhyme scheme.
Invented by the Italian Iacopo da Lentini in the first half of the 13th century.
Introduced into England by Sir Thomas Wyatt.
Two types of sonnet: Petrarchan and Shakespearean.
*Iamb: Type of foot made up of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed one

8. Table of comparison Shakespearean sonnet Petrarchan sonnet
14 lines of iambic pentameter
Division into 2 sections:
the octave presents a problem or situation
the sestet solves or clarifies the situation
Division into 4 sections: 
3 quatrains present a problem or situation
a couplet solves or summarizes the problem.
Rhyme scheme:
ABABABAB or ABBAABBA for the octave
CDECDE or CDCDEE for the sestet
ABAB Quatrain I
CDCD Quatrain II
EFEF Quatrain III
GG Couplet