Sonnets of Shakespeare

Shakespeare’s Sonnets

Our talk is about the sonnets of William Shakespeare.
The original form of the sonnet was the Italian sonnet, developed by the poet Petrarch. It consisted of an eight line octet and a six line sestet.
The rhyme scheme for the octet is ABBA ABBA, and the purpose of the octet is to present a situation or a problem. The rhyme scheme for the sestet can be either CDECDE or CDCDCD. The purpose of the sestet is to comment on or resolve the situation or problem posed in the octet. When this is used in English, it is traditionally in iambic(=jambe) parameter.
Edmund Spenser developed the Spenserian Sonnet. It’s a sonnet variation that serves as a bridge between the Italian sonnet and the form used by Shakespeare. The rhyme scheme of the Spenserian sonnet is ABAB BCBC CDCD EE. The rhyme scheme of the English sonnet is ABAB CDCD EFEF GG. Shakespeare has eliminated the close linking of the idividual quatrains to allow more flexibility in English. Because English does not provide as many rhyming possibilities as Italian.
One of the elements of Shakespeare’s sonnets is the ‘enjambment’. This is used frequently in the plays and less frequently in the sonnets. In an ‘enjambed’ line, the phrases extend beyond the end of the sonnet lines and the phrase begins or ends in the middle of a line.

The designation ‘Shakespeare’s Sonnets’ denotes a group of 154 poems. The Sonnets were written over a number of years, mostly from 1591 till 1594, though some are probably later. The full sequence was first printed by Thomas Thorpe in 1609. It also included a longer poem at the end titled A Lover’s Complaint.
There have been many efforts in the past to organize and classify the sonnets. The poems are commonly divided into two groups. The first group is adressed to the fair young man. It contains the first 126 sonnets. Many efforts have been made to know more about the young man’s identity. The main clue in this search is that the first sonnets are dedicated to a ‘Mr. W.H.’. Some literary historians have identified the young man as William Herbert, the earl of Pembroke. Others claimed that the young man was Henry Wriothesley, the earl of Southhampton. Both men were young nobles when the sonnets were composed. It is possible that Shakespeare did not have a specific individual in mind when he wrote the sonnets.
The second and last set of poems is adressed to a ‘dark lady’. Some of Shakespeare’s biographers have assumed that there was in fact a dark lady. But in this case there are no clues to presume that the dark lady lived. On the basis of speculation, several young women of Queen Elizabeth’s court have been seen as historical models for the dark lady.
The sonnet story contains five caracters:
-the poet
-a fair young man
-a dark lady
-a rival poet
and the ever-ticking time.
Some say the poet, the fair young man and the dark lady are involved in a love triangle. The theme of love and infidelity is dominant in both sets of sonnets. Other themes which appear in the sonnets are beauty, immortality, the time and the power of poetry.