The Italian sonnet also reflects an iambic pentameter. However, the main characteristic of an Italian sonnet old or new is the clear division into two parts (quatrains) separated by a rhetorical turn of argument. Older versions reflect an ABABABAB scheme in the quatrain. The usual rhyme for an Italian sonnet is that of abbaabba (for the octave) cdecde (for the sestet) but there are variations. The octave is often divided into quatrains, viz.
It is divided into an octave and a sestet (Lewis, 2000). The stanzaic form of a sonnet is that of a fourteen-line poem. Indeed, the term refers to a medieval provincial song from which the sonnet is believed to have derived its form, with some variation. This distribution along stanzas is what has given the genre the quality of canzone. It follows a prescriptive pattern or stanzas which makes all the verses tune harmoniously. The Italian sonnet is organized along with a canzone-stanza scheme whereby its distinctiveness and popularity lie (Wilkins, 1915). The Structure of the Italian Sonnet: Form, meter, and rhyme Hence, Petrarch, the main Italian sonneteer, is the representative of the fourth generation of the studied genre. Only after them came Francis Petrarch, according to this reading of the history of Italian poetry. Then, the generation following them, the stilnovesti, self-proclaimed new sweet style poets vested musicality onto the sonnet. Before them, Gittone d’Arezzo and his followers displaced the elevated and courtly style of sonnets and imbued it with the communal lives and concerns of citizens. The musicality of the sonnet was beset on the genre by the third generation of sonneteers (Spiller, 1992). This is accounted for as early as 1235 (Spiller, 1992). Giacomo da Lentino and subsequent poets are the ones who laid the structural foundation of the Petrarchan sonnet. It is, indeed, believed to have emerged from Sicilian courts. The early Italian sonneteers were in the 13 th century and used a style that reflected the courtly circles from which it emerged. While the Italian sonnet is also called the Petrarchan sonnet about Francis Petrarch (Francesco Petrarca)- great fourteen-century poet- the sonnet is claimed to have existed a century before him (Spiller, 1992). Learn More A glimpse at the history of the Italian Sonnet
0 kommentar(er)
