What is a sonnet

 Give a brief account of sonnet.

                              Or,

What is a sonnet? Describe its characteristics.

 

Ans. The term "Sonnet" derives from the Italian "Sonetto" which means a little sound. The sonnet originated in thirteenth century Italy, was developed by the Italian poet Petrarch, and was brought to England by Sir Thomas Wyatt. It was greatly modified by the Earl of Surrey, and Shakespeare, and to a lesser extent, by poets since Shakespeare.

 

The subject matter of sonnet was primarily a doting lover's hopes and pains. Donne shifted from the secular love to a variety of religious themes. Milton expanded the range to other matters of serious contemplation.

 

An ordinary sonnet consists of fourteen lines, usually in iambic pentameters with considerable variations in rhyme scheme. On the basis of variations in the stanza form and rhyme scheme, there can be three types of sonnet: (a) the Petrarchan, which comprises an octave rhyming abbaabba and a sestet rhyming cdecde or cdcdcd; (b) the Shakespearean or the English with three quatrains and a couplet, rhyming abab, cdcd, efef, gg: (c) the Spenserian with three quatrains and a couplet, rhyming abab,bcbc,cdcd,ee.

 

In the Italian form the octave develops one thought; there is then a turn, and the sestet grows out of the octave, varies it and completes it. In the other two forms a different idea is expressed; each grows out of the one preceding it; and the argument, theme, and dialect are concluded in the ending couplet.