Sonnets I
Love Sonnets
Sonetto: “little song, or sound”
Francesco Petrach, Rime Sparse 190
Edmund Spenser, Amoretti 67
Sir Philip Sidney, Astrophil and Stella 52
francesco petrarca (1304-1394)
“Father of the
Renaissance”
Humanism
Wrote in the Tuscan
vernacular
the petrarchan sonnet
Rime Sparse means “scattered rhymes”
Sonnet sequences: series of love poems written
by an unfulfilled, melancholy lover to a
detached, chaste mistress
The Petrarchan Sonnet adopted by the English
14 lines divided into two clear parts, an opening
octet (8 lines) and a closing sestet (6 lines)
A fixed rhyme scheme (abbaabba cdecde)
Often the octet will pose a problem or paradox
which the sestet will resolve.
Volta: turn, or shift in thought that separates the
octet from the sestet
Una candida cerva sopra l’erba
verde m’apparve con duo corna d’oro,
fra due riviere all’ombra d’un alloro,
levando ‘l sole a la stagione acerba.
Era sua vista sì dolce superba
ch’i’ lasciai per seguirla ogni lavoro,
come l’avaro che ’n cercar tesoro
con diletto l’affano disacerba.
“Nessun mi tocchi,” al bel collo d’intorno
scritto avea di diamanti et di topazi.
“Libera farmi al mio Cesare parve.”
Et era ’l sol già vòlto al mezzo giorno,
gli occhi miei stanchi di mirar, non sazi,
quand’ io caddi ne l’acqua et ella sparve.
5
10
Una candida cerva sopra l’erba
octet
verde m’apparve con duo corna d’oro,
fra due riviere all’ombra d’un alloro,
levando ‘l sole a la stagione acerba.
Era sua vista sì dolce superba
ch’i’ lasciai per seguirla ogni lavoro,
come l’avaro che ’n cercar tesoro
con diletto l’affano disacerba.
“Nessun mi tocchi,” al bel collo d’intorno
scritto avea di diamanti et di topazi.
“Libera farmi al mio Cesare parve.”
Et era ’l sol già vòlto al mezzo giorno,
gli occhi miei stanchi di mirar, non sazi,
quand’ io caddi ne l’acqua et ella sparve.
5
sestet
10
Una candida cerva sopra l’erba
verde m’apparve con duo corna d’oro,
fra due riviere all’ombra d’un alloro,
levando ‘l sole a la stagione acerba.
Era sua vista sì dolce superba
ch’i’ lasciai per seguirla ogni lavoro,
come l’avaro che ’n cercar tesoro
con diletto l’affano disacerba.
“Nessun mi tocchi,” al bel collo d’intorno
scritto avea di diamanti et di topazi.
“Libera farmi al mio Cesare parve.”
Et era ’l sol già vòlto al mezzo giorno,
gli occhi miei stanchi di mirar, non sazi,
quand’ io caddi ne l’acqua et ella sparve.
a
b
b
a
a
b
b
a
c
d
e
c
d
e
octet
sestet
edmund Spenser (1552-1599)
Wrote criticism, The Faerie
Queene
1594 m. Elizabeth Boyle, 2nd
wife
Amoretti—sequence of 89
sonnets about his courtship and
marriage
amoretti 67
Beloved as hind; lover as hunter
Transforms the Petrarchan sequence of longing
and losing
structure
Increases the number of different rhymes to five:
abab bcbc cdcd ee
Three couplet-like rhymes: bb, cc, ee
Because of the more complicated rhyme
scheme, the placement of the turn varies
Lyke as a huntsman after weary chace,
Seeing the game from him escapt away,
Sits downe to rest him in some shady place,
With panting hounds beguilèd of their pray;
So after long pursuit and vaine assay,
5
When I all weary had the chace forsooke,
The gentle deare returnd the selfe-same way,
Thinking to quench her thirst at the next brook.
There she beholding me with mylder looke,
Sought not to fly, but fearelesse still did bide:
Till I in hand her yet halfe trembling tooke,
And with her owne goodwill hir fyrmly tyde.
Strange thing me seemed to see a beast so wyld,
So goodly wonne with her owne will beguyld.
10
a
Seeing the game from him escapt away,
b
Sits downe to rest him in some shady place,
a
With panting hounds beguilèd of their pray;
b
So after long pursuit and vaine assay,
5
b
When I all weary had the chace forsooke,
c
The gentle deare returnd the selfe-same way,
b
Thinking to quench her thirst at the next brook.
c
There she beholding me with mylder looke,
c
Sought not to fly, but fearelesse still did bide:
10
d
Till I in hand her yet halfe trembling tooke,
And with her owne goodwill hir fyrmly tyde.
Strange thing me seemed to see a beast so wyld,
e
c
d
a
Seeing the game from him escapt away,
b
Sits downe to rest him in some shady place,
a
With panting hounds beguilèd of their pray;
b
So after long pursuit and vaine assay,
5
b
When I all weary had the chace forsooke,
c
The gentle deare returnd the selfe-same way,
b
Thinking to quench her thirst at the next brook.
c
There she beholding me with mylder looke,
c
Sought not to fly, but fearelesse still did bide:
10
d
Till I in hand her yet halfe trembling tooke,
And with her owne goodwill hir fyrmly tyde.
Strange thing me seemed to see a beast so wyld,
e
c
d
Sir Philip Sidney (1554-1586)
Knight, soldier,
coterie poet, patron
astrophil and stella
Astrophil and Stella—sequence of 108
sonnets and 11 songs
Penelope Devereux thought to be Stella
Exploration of the lover's soul using wellestablished conventions but transforming
them
astrophil and stella 52
Conceit of Love and Virtue arguing about
Stella's allegiance
Virtue concedes that she wears Love's
device, but Virtue owns her self
Martial imagery; legal language
A strife is grown between Virtue and Love,
While each pretends that Stella must be his:
Her eyes, her lips, her all, saith Love, do this,
Since they do wear his badge, most firmly prove.
But Virtue thus that title doth disprove:
5
That Stella (O dear name) that Stella is
That virtuous soul, sure heir of heavenly bliss;
Not this fair outside, which our hearts doth move.
And therefore, though her beauty and her grace
Be Love's indeed, in Stella's self he may
10
By no pretense claim any manner place.
Well, Love, since this demur our suit doth stay,
Let Virtue have that Stella's self; yet thus,
That Virtue but that body grant to us.