The sonnet, which translated means "little song", in fact, originated in Italy. Thomas Wyatt (1503-1542) learned of it in his travels to Italy and Spain. He carried Petrarchan verse back to England, and translated many of Petrarch's love songs dedicated to Laura. Whether this is her true name or merely the invention of the poet is unclear. Wyatt employed iambic pentameter in his verses, suited as it is to our mother tongue. Wyatt, however, did maintain the structure associated with the Petrarchan sonnet, that being: eight lines using the rhyme scheme abbaabba, followed by six lines using either cdecde, cdcdcd, or cdcdee. Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey (1517-1547), a friend of Wyatt also translated Petrarch verse, although he created the form which is familiar and generally preferred by poets today, that being 3 quatrains in iambic pentameter, employing alternating rhyme and concluding in a couplet.
The foundation thus laid by our worthy fathers was built upon by George Gascoigne, who was the first to publish a sonnet sequence in English, that is, a series of sonnets which are all interrelated in some manner. Present interest in the sonnet is largely due to Sir Philip Sidney's publication of "Astrophel and Stella", (in which, I assure you, Stella is not her true name!). Sir Philip also varied the meter, using hexameter, or twelve syllable lines, as the Italians do. Sadly, Sir Philip (1554-1586) died in the service of the Holland Leaguers.
Some poets have produced sequences in which each following sonnet begins with the prior sonnet's closing lines. I must also mention Edmund Spenser (1552-1599) for his sequence "Amoretti", published in 1595. He chooses an interlocking rhyme scheme, like so: abab bcbc cdcd ee, for a further challenge.
I have heard also that the famous playwright, William Shakespeare (1564-1616) has produced some sonnets, which are dedicated to his patrons and circulated among his friends. I have not seen them, but am told that they are very good, although none can say quite why. I do not doubt it, for his plays have a poetic quality that is undeniable.
I beg my fellows not mentioned here to refrain from choler as I have intended only to set down those who have gone before, and planted the field of verse in which we frolic.
Ld Walter Robin
Copyright © 1999, Andy Borman (Walter Robin). All rights reserved. Contact to reprint.
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