In this group the student of the subject should note the detailed
variations of the rime-scheme of the sestet, and the varying practice of
the poets as to the division between octave and sestet.
In view of the connection of Petrarch's sonnets with Wyatt's
introduction of the form into England, the first of them is reproduced
as a typical specimen of the strict Italian form.
Voi ch' ascoltate in rime sparse il suono
Di quei sospiri ond' io nudriva 'l core
In su 'l mio primo giovenile errore,
Quand' era in parte altr' uom da quel ch' i' sono,
Del vario stile, in ch' io piango e ragiono
Fra le vane speranze e 'l van dolore,
Ove sia chi per prova intenda amore
Spero trovar pietà, non che perdono.
Ma ben veggi' or sí come al popol tutto
Favola fui gran tempo, onde sovente
Di me medesmo meco mi vergogno;
E del mio vaneggiar vergogna è 'l frutto,
E 'l pentirsi, e 'l conoscer chiaramente
Che quanto piace al mondo è breve sogno.
(PETRARCA: _Sonetto_ i.)
The longe love that in my thought I harber,
And in my heart doth kepe his residence,
Into my face preaseth with bold pretence,
And there campeth, displaying his banner.
She that me learns to love, and to suffer,
And willes that my trust, and lustes negligence
Be reined by reason, shame, and reverence,
With his hardinesse takes displeasure.
Wherwith love to the hartes forest he fleeth,
Leavyng his enterprise with paine and crye,
And there him hideth and not appeareth.
What may I do? when my maister feareth,
But in the field with him to live and dye,
For good is the life, endyng faithfully.
(SIR THOMAS WYATT: _The lover hideth his desire_, etc., in Tottel's
_Songs and Sonnets_, p. 33. pub. 1557.)
It was Wyatt who introduced the sonnet into England. Thirty-one of his
sonnets were published in Tottel's Miscellany, of which about a third
are said to be translations or paraphrases of Petrarch's. Wyatt
followed, of course, the regular Italian structure, but used
unhesitatingly the form of sestet with the concluding couplet
(_cddcee_). On this point Mr. Courthope says: "Wyatt was evidently
unaware of the secret principle underlying the extremely complex
structure of the Italian sonnet; ... and being unfortunately misled by
his admiration for the _Strambotti_ of Serafino, which sum up the
conclusion in a couplet, he endeavored to construct his sonnets on the
same principle, thereby leading all sonnet writers before Milton on a
wrong path." (_History of English Poetry_, vol. ii. p. 91.)
Loving in truth, and fain in verse my love to show,
That she, dear she, might take some pleasure of my pain,--
Pleasure might cause her read, reading might make her know,
Knowledge might pity win, and pity grace obtain,--
I sought fit words to paint the blackest face of woe;
Studying inventions fine, her wits to entertain,
Oft turning others' leaves, to see if thence would flow
Some fresh and fruitful showers upon my sun-burn'd brain.
But words came halting forth, wanting Invention's stay;
Invention, Nature's child, fled step-dame Study's blows,
And others' feet still seem'd but strangers in my way.
Thus, great with child to speak, and helpless in my throes,
Biting my truant pen, beating myself for spite,--
'Fool,' said my Muse to me, 'Look in thy heart, and write.'
(SIR PHILIP SIDNEY: _Astrophel and Stella_, i. ab. 1580.)
With how sad steps, O Moon, thou climb'st the skies!
How silently, and with how wan a face!
What, may it be that e'en in heavenly place
That busy archer his sharp arrows tries!
Sure, if that long-with-love-acquainted eyes
Can judge of love, thou feel'st a lover's case,
I read it in thy looks; thy languish'd grace,
To me, that feel the like, thy state descries.
Then, e'en of fellowship, O Moon, tell me,
Is constant love deem'd there but want of wit?
Are beauties there as proud as here they be?
Do they above love to be loved, and yet
Those lovers scorn whom that love doth possess?
Do they call virtue, there, ungratefulness?
(SIR PHILIP SIDNEY: _Astrophel and Stella_, xxxi. ab. 1580.)
Sidney's favorite form for the sonnet sestet was that shown in these
specimens (_cdcdee_), a form that suggests the influence of the Surrey
or English sonnet rather than the Italian. The first of the sonnets is
of course exceptional in being written in alexandrines, but is among the
finest in the sequence. See also Sidney's sonnet of the English type, p.
291, below.
The _Astrophel and Stella_ (containing 110 sonnets) is the earliest of
the great sonnet-sequences or sonnet-cycles of English poetry, those of
Spenser, Shakspere, Rossetti, and Mrs. Browning being later
representatives. In the Elizabethan age the fashion of writing sonnets,
and sonnet-sequences in particular, was at its height, especially in the
last decade of the century (1590-1600). On this subject, see the
Introduction to Professor Schelling's _Elizabethan Lyrics_, in the
Athenæum Press Series, and Mr. Sidney Lee's _Life of Shakspere_. Other
noteworthy sonnet-sequences besides those of Sidney, Spenser, and
Shakspere were Constable's _Diana_, Daniel's _Delia_, Lodge's _Phyllis_,
Watson's _Tears of Fancy_, Barnes's _Parthenophil_, Giles Fletcher's
_Lycia_, and Drayton's _Idea_,--all published in the years 1592-1594. A
now forgotten poet by the name of Lok produced more than four hundred
sonnets, proving himself an Elizabethan rival to Wordsworth.
I know that all beneath the moon decays,
And what by mortals in this world is brought
In time's great periods shall return to naught;
That fairest states have fatal nights and days.
I know how all the Muse's heavenly lays,
With toil of spirit which are so dearly bought,
As idle sounds, of few or none are sought;
And that naught lighter is than airy praise.
I know frail beauty like the purple flower,
To which one morn oft birth and death affords;
That love a jarring is of minds' accords,
Where sense and will invassall reason's power.
Know what I list, this all can not me move,
But that, O me! I both must write and love.
(WILLIAM DRUMMOND of Hawthornden: _Sense of the Fragility of All
Things_, etc. 1616.)
Drummond was a sonneteer of great skill, and used many original
combinations of rime-schemes,--some forty in all,--yet usually
approximating to the Italian type. Leigh Hunt says: "Drummond's sonnets,
for the most part, are not only of the legitimate order, but they are
the earliest in the language that breathe what may be called the habit
of mind observable in the best Italian writers of sonnets; that is to
say, a mixture of tenderness, elegance, love of country, seclusion, and
conscious sweetness of verse." (Essay on the Sonnet, in _The Book of the
Sonnet_, vol. i. pp. 78, 79.)
Death, be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so;
For those whom thou think'st thou dost overthrow
Die not, poor Death; nor yet canst thou kill me.
From rest and sleep, which but thy pictures be,
Much pleasure: then from thee much more must flow;
And soonest our best men do with thee go--
Rest of their bones, and souls' delivery.
Thou'rt slave to fate, chance, kings, and desperate men,
And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell,
And poppy or charms can make us sleep as well
And better than thy stroke. Why swell'st thou then?
One short sleep past, we wake eternally,
And death shall be no more: Death, thou shalt die.
(JOHN DONNE: _Holy Sonnets_, X. 1635.)
Donne's series of "Holy Sonnets" was one of the few Elizabethan
sequences, or cycles, which dealt with other than amatory subjects. The
seven sonnets of the series called _La Corona_ are bound together into a
"crown of sonnets,"--an Italian fashion, according to which the first
line of each sonnet is the same as the last of the sonnet preceding, and
the last line of the last sonnet the same as the first line of the
first.
When I consider how my light is spent
Ere half my days, in this dark world and wide,
And that one talent which is death to hide
Lodged with me useless, though my soul more bent
To serve therewith my Maker, and present
My true account, lest He returning chide,--
Doth God exact day-labor, light denied?
I fondly ask:--But patience, to prevent
That murmur, soon replies: God doth not need
Either man's work, or His own gifts; who best
Bear His mild yoke, they serve Him best: His state
Is kingly; thousands at His bidding speed
And post o'er land and ocean without rest:--
They also serve who only stand and wait.
(MILTON: _On his Blindness_. ab. 1655.)
Milton learned the sonnet direct from the Italian, and wrote five in
that language. While following the Italian rime-schemes, however, he was
not careful to observe any division between octave and sestet. Like
Donne, he turned the sonnet to other subjects than that of love, or--in
Landor's words--
"He caught the sonnet from the dainty hand
Of Love, who cried to lose it, and he gave
The notes to Glory."
(_To Lamartine._)