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Sonnet cycles were greatly in vogue in the Elizabethan era (roughly 1558-1610), the time around Queen Elizabeth’s reign in England. Some of the most famous sonnet cycles of the age were written by William Shakespeare, Philip Sidney, and Edmund Spenser. The sonnet sequences were generally united by recurring themes, such as love, heartbreak, marriage, mortality, and religion. In Shakespeare’s sonnets, love, beauty, time, and art take centerstage. Unlike the stylized, courtly lover of Italian sonnets or the sonnet cycle of Sidney, Shakespeare’s personae are more reasonable.
Shakespeare’s sonnets are untitled and thus recognized by their first lines or assigned number. Numbering 154 in total, The sonnets first appeared in the 1609 quarto edition of Shakespeare's poetry. The sonnets are widely regarded to be addressed to two distinct muses: 1-126 to the “Fair Youth,” a young man with whom Shakespeare had a close relationship, and 127-152 to a mysterious woman. Sonnets 153 and 154 refer to Cupid, the god of romance.
In the “Fair Youth” sequence, the speaker at first urges the youth to get married and make copies (children) of his beauty, since youth and beauty are fleeing. Sonnets 18 and onward describe the youth’s perfect beauty, as well as the speaker’s anxiety about their limited time with the youth. Sonnet 60, which some critics note is numbered after the minutes in an hour, is more pessimistic in tone, dwelling on the inevitability of aging and death. However, the sonnet ends on a note of timid hope, that art (verse) can outlast the mortal lifespan of a human being. This theme of poetry as a means to preserve life is also seen in “Sonnet 19,” among others, where the poet concludes, “Yet do thy worst, old Time! Despite thy wrong / My love shall in my verse ever live young” (Shakespeare, William. “Sonnet 19.” 1609. Lines 13-14).
The popular and enduring 14-line sonnet form (from sonneto, Italian for “little song”) originated in Italy, with the poet Francesco Petrarch perfecting it. Since Italian lends itself to rhyme, the traditional Italian sonnet has a stricter rhyme scheme than the English, with the octet (first eight lines) at ABBAABBA, and the six-line sestet rhyming CDCDCD or CDECDE. The Petrarchan sonnet establishes a thesis or argument in the first eight lines, and from the ninth onward comes the volta, or turn, which clarifies or reverses the thesis of the preceding lines. The twist inherent in the form is one of the reasons for its enduring popularity.
The Petrarchan sonnet was in vogue in Italy in the 14th century and was brought to England by Sir Thomas Wyatt (1503-1542). Wyatt translated Petrarch’s sonnets in English while roughly maintaining the Italianate stanza structure. However, in some sonnets he changed the sestet’s rhyme scheme of CDCDCD/CDECDE to CDDC EE. The separation of the ending couplet is regarded as an early manifestation of the English sonnet form.
By the 16th century, poets such as Shakespeare were writing original English sonnets as three quatrains and a closing couplet, largely in iambic pentameter, with the rhyme scheme being ABAB CDCD EFEF GG. This new structure was adapted to the strengths of English, allowing more flexibility in rhyme. The advantage of the English structure was also that it allowed the poem more room to expand on its central thesis in the three quatrains, and then deliver a sudden twist in the short space of the concluding couplet. In Sonnet 60, for instance, the three quatrains serve to depict three distinct imageries—sea, sun, and agriculture—while the couplet yields a satisfying, hopeful surprise.
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By William Shakespeare