[35] It will perhaps be found of interest to reproduce the "Ten
Commandments of the Sonnet" given by Mr. Sharp in his Introduction to
_Sonnets of this Century_ (p. lxxviii):
"1. The sonnet must consist of fourteen decasyllabic lines.
"2. Its octave, or major system, whether or not this be marked by a
pause in the cadence after the eighth line, must (unless cast in the
Shakespearian mould) follow a prescribed arrangement in the
rhyme-sounds--namely, the first, fourth, fifth, and eighth lines must
rhyme on the same sound, and the second, third, sixth, and seventh on
another.
"3. Its sestet, or minor system, may be arranged with more freedom, but
a rhymed couplet at the close is only allowable when the form is the
English or Shakespearian.
"4. No terminal should also occur in any other portion of any other line
in the same system; and the rhyme-sounds (1) of the octave should be
harmoniously at variance, and (2) the rhyme-sounds of the sestet should
be entirely distinct in intonation from those of the octave....
"5. It must have no slovenliness of diction, no weak or indeterminate
terminations, no vagueness of conception, and no obscurity.
"6. It must be absolutely complete in itself--_i.e._, it must be the
evolution of one thought, or one emotion, or one poetically apprehended
fact.
"7. It should have the characteristic of apparent inevitableness, and in
expression be ample, yet reticent....
"8. The continuity of the thought, idea, or emotion must be unbroken
throughout.
"9. Continuous sonority must be maintained from the first phrase to the
last.
"10. The end must be more impressive than the commencement."
These rules of course represent the ideal of the strictest Italian form,
and are by no means derived from the prevailing practice of English
poets.
[36] On the structure and history of the sonnet, see Schipper, as cited
above; C. Tomlinson: _The Sonnet, its Origin, Structure, and Place in
Poetry_ (1874); K. Lentzner: _Ueber das Sonett und seine Gestaltung in
der englischen Dichtung bis Milton_ (1886); Leigh Hunt and S. A. Lee:
_The Book of the Sonnet_ (with introductory essay, 1867); W. Sharp:
_Sonnets of This Century_ (with essay, 1886); S. Waddington: _English
Sonnets by Poets of the Past_, and _English Sonnets by Living Poets_;
Hall Caine: _Sonnets of Three Centuries_ (1882); H. Corson: _Primer of
English Verse_, chap. x.
[37] In 1575, when Gascoigne wrote his _Notes of Instruction_, he found
it necessary to say: "Some thinke that all Poemes (being short) may be
called Sonets, as in deede it is a diminutive worde derived of _Sonare_,
but yet I can beste allowe to call those Sonnets whiche are of fouretene
lynes, every line conteyning tenne syllables. The firste twelve do ryme
in staves of foure lines by crosse meetre, and the last two ryming
togither do conclude the whole." (Arber's Reprint, pp. 38, 39.) It is,
of course, the English sonnet which Gascoigne thus describes.
[38] Shakspere also introduced sonnets into some of his earlier plays:
_Love's Labor's Lost_, _All's Well that Ends Well_, _Romeo and Juliet_,
and _Henry V._ See Fleay's _Chronicle of the English Drama_, vol. ii. p.
224, and Schelling's _Elizabethan Lyrics_, p. xxx.