In the judgment of some of the greatest poets and literary men the
_Sonnet_ is a form of poetry of very high value; in its structure a
precious gem. It is of Italian origin and was invented by _Petrarch_ in
the 14th century. In his retreat at Vaucluse near Avignon he wrote the
greater part of his sonnets, all devoted to the idolatry of woman――to
the praise of Laura: 227 of them were written while she was living; and
he continued to extol her in 90 sonnets after her death.
The laws of the sonnet are these. It has one leading subject and should
end with some striking thought, or must bring to a beautiful conclusion
or point the images and musings of the first lines and greater part
of the poem. It has always 14 lines, falling into two unequal lobes,
one of two quatrains, the other of two triplets; or in other words it
is composed of four stanzas, the two first of four lines each and the
two last of three lines each. Then as to the rhymes,――the first eight
lines have only two rhymes, and they always in the same place,――the
first, fourth, fifth and eighth lines rhyming; so also the other four.
The last six lines admit of a little change, and may have either two or
three rhymes; usually the four first lines have alternate rhymes, and
the two last are a couplet; but even in this case the triplet form is
to be preserved.
The distinction of the stanzas is made, not by a separation from each
other by wider spaces, but while printed compactly by the lines 1,
5, 9, and 12, projecting to the left; as in Milton's sonnets and in
the Venice edition of Petrarch in 1764. Various poets however have
unwisely disregarded this rule: and have variously placed their rhymes
and their lines at their pleasure. Campbell has translated a few of
Petrarch's sonnets, reducing the 14 lines to 12, composed of three
similar quatrains, the first and last lines of which rhyme together.
But this is destroying the Sonnet.
Our admiration of Petrarch should perhaps be a little moderated; for he
is full of affected turns and paradoxes and smart antitheses. Speaking
of love he says, "O viva morte, O dilettoso male,"――O living death, O
most beloved evil! Speaking also of its effect he says in four lines of
rhyme, which may be thus translated――without rhyme――
"I find no peace, and am not the subject of war;
I fear, and hope, and also burn, and freeze;
I fly above the heavens, and walk on the earth;
I grasp nothing, and hold the universe in my arms."
Addressing a river, in which Laura washed her face, he says,
"Thou hast no rock beneath thy waves, which does not burn with the
same fires, that are kindled in me." He also said, "O earth, thou art
not worthy to be trodden by her feet. She deserves to adorn heaven!"
His curious stanza repeating the word _dolce_, sweet, 9 or 10 times may
be thus translated:
"Sweet sorrow, and sweet joy, and then sweet pain,
Sweet torture, zephyr, fire, and next sweet wounds;
Sweet word, which in my ear most sweetly sounds,
Sweet anger, and sweet rage, and sweet disdain."
The sonnet in the use of Petrarch did not attain its highest dignity,
for it was wholly appropriated to the praise of Laura, his love for
whom whether real or fictitious has not yet been settled by the
literary world. He died in 1374, aged 70.――The eminent English poet
Spenser followed him after an interval of more than 200 years dying
in 1598: he published 87 sonnets. Then Shakespeare, who died in 1616,
published 154 sonnets; all of which by these two poets are devoted to
love, but with a change of the Italian rhyme and form.
The following shows the sonnet's structure by _Spenser_.
"Men call you fair, and you do credit it,
For that your self ye daily such do see,
But the true fair, that is, the gentle wit
And virtuous mind is much more prais'd of me;
For all the rest, however fair it be,
Shall turn to naught, and lose that glorious hue;
But only that is permanent and free
From frail corruption, that doth flesh ensew:
That is true beauty; that doth argue you
To be divine, and born of heav'nly seed,
Deriv'd from that fair Spirit from whom all true
And perfect beauty did at first proceed:
He only fair, and what he fair hath made;
All other fair, like flow'rs, untimely fade."
It will be observed, that the last couplet is always a rhyme, which is
not the fixed rule of Petrarch; and then he has changed the places of
the rhymes and confused them by abolishing the stanzas.
The following is a sonnet of _Shakespeare_.
"O, how much more doth beauty beauteous seem
By that sweet ornament which truth doth give!
The rose looks fair, but fairer we it deem
For that sweet odor which doth in it live.
The canker-blooms have full as deep a dye,
As the perfumed tincture of the roses;
Hang on such thorns, and play as wantonly,
When summer's breath their masked buds discloses:
But for their virtue only is their show;
They live unwoo'd, and unrespected fade;
Die to themselves. Sweet roses do not so;
Of their sweet deaths are sweetest odors made:
And so of you, beauteous and lovely youth;
When that shall fade, my verse distils your truth."
Here also is an injurious change in the sonnet of Petrarch: the last
couplet is always a rhyme, and it is separated in print from the 12
lines, which are very simple, composing three stanzas of distinct,
alternate rhymes, much easier to compose than Spenser's or the Italian.
_Milton_ wrote 5 sonnets in Italian, which were translated by Cowper.
In them he followed Petrarch in his subject. It was in his 18 English
sonnets, that he has given to this form of poetry its true elevation
and dignity. Instead of applying it, like his predecessors, to love
meditations, expressive of fictitious or real affection, he made it the
instrument of conveying most important moral, patriotic, and religious
sentiments.
The following is a sonnet of Milton, who died in 1675. It was addressed
to