The Elizabethan Sonnet

The sonnet, a poem of fourteen lines was originally invented in the thirteenth century Italy. It probably originated with Dante, who wrote a number of sonnets to his beloved named Beatrice. But the genre of sonnets flourished under Petrarch (1304 - 74) a generation later. The introduction of sonnets in England is credited to Wyatt and Surrey. Their sonnets were published in Tottel’s Miscellany. While Wyatt followed the Petrarchan model for seventeen out of his thirty-two sonnets, Surrey invented a style of his own that was later adopted by the Elizabethan sonneteers especially Shakespeare.
Although a large number of poets tried their hands at the writing of sonnets ye they are a few names that rise above the run of the mill crowd. The prominent names are those of Sidney, Spenser and Shakespeare.
Edmund Spenser(1552-1599) can be considered as a pioneer in this field in English as ti was he who first appeared with his collection of eighty-eight sonnets in the form of Amoretti (1595). He followed the rhyme scheme: abab, bcbc, cdcd, ee. In the words of Andrew Sanders, “The sonnets substantially readjust the Petrarchan model by seeing the mistress as an unattainable image of perfection, but as a creature reflection and sometimes clouding the glory of her Divine Creator.”

Sir Philip Sidney(1554-86) – His most important word was his sonnet sequence ‘Astrophel and Stella’ (a collection of one hundred and eight sonnets and eleven songs). The poems are addressed to Penelope Devereux about the intensity of the poet’s feelings for the lady, who later broke off with him to marry Lord Rich. These sonnets owe much to Petrarch and Ronsard in tone and style. G.H. Mair is of the view that Sidney’s sonnets “mark and epoch” as “they are the first direct expression in English literature of an intimate and personal experience struck off in the white heat of passion...they never lose the one merit above all others of lyric poetry, the merit of sincerity.”

William Shakespeare(1564-1616) - Shakespearean sonnets, one hundred and fifty-four in number were first published in 1609. Out of these the first one hundred and twenty six are addressed to a young and handsome man, who has been said to be the Earl of Southampton. A few have maintained that he might have been William Herbert, the Earl of Pembroke. Twenty-six sonnets are addressed to a dark lady. Shakespeare’s sonnets follow the rhyme scheme: abab, cdcd, efef, gg. It was the same that was first used by Surrey. The typical characteristic of Shakespeare is the final couplet. Shakespeare was completely impersonal in his dramatic works but in his sonnets as Wordsworth puts it he “unlocks his heart”.