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| Italian | 34% | 70 votes | Total: 206 votes | |
| English | 66% | 136 votes |
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Add to FavoritesWhat better poetic form in the world is there than the sonnet? Since Petrarch the sonnet has been the real test of skill for serious and aspiring poets alike. There are many various classes of this form, from the popular English sonnet, to the Italian sonnet, or the lesser known Spenserian sonnet. For now we will focus on the former two. Which of these two forms is the best incarnation of the sonnet?
The Italian sonnet was popularized by the Italian poet philosopher Petrarch (the English version of his name). It is a form that is composed of two parts- the octave and the sestina. The octave is eight lines rhyming abbaabba. The sestina is an additional six lines (still in the one stanza) that can be rhymed in essentially any pattern. This form is the more open of the two forms because the sestina is virtually left to the imagination of the poet, offering nearly limitless opportunity to any who will put their hand to it. There is a problem, though, in the octave that is more dominant in English than in the original language, Italian, which the sonnet was written. This is that the English language has fewer words that rhyme and more rhyming sounds than Italian, for which the form was intended. The form is open to many themes and can work well for nearly any emotion or setting. But can we say that it is the better based upon these things.
The English sonnet is actually the offspring of the Italian sonnet. It was born in the seventeenth century and was popularized by Shakespeare. It rhymes ababcdcdefefgg. This rhyme scheme lends itself to the English language in that it allows for a larger amount of variance in the rhyme and sounds usable by the poet. The form is open, as the Italian, to nearly any theme but is most often associated with love and lust poems (famously Shakespeare's sonnets). The only problem with the form of the English sonnet is that it resembles a lump of quatrains instead of any complicated form, except for the concluding couplet. This makes the writing of the sonnet easier, and in doing so it offers up the sonnet to less expert hands, allowing for weaker poems. But does this make it inferior to the Italian sonnet?
In my opinion, yes. Sonnets are and have been the standard for all good metered poets, and using a form that is easier cheapens the poet and poetry in general. However I am not saying that all English sonnets are horrible; I rather like the form but I do not think it is as good as the Italian sonnet.
Learn more about this author, Joshua Jones.
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English
The sonnet is one of the most celebrated forms of prose poetry. Sonnets are divided into two main categories, Italian sonnets and English sonnets. While the Italian sonnet has many accomplishments, they pale when compared to those of the dominant English sonnet.
The Italian sonnet was invented by a poet name Petrarch, and is often called a Petarchian Sonnet. It is composed of fourteen, ten syllable lines of unstressed, followed by stressed syllables. This is called Iambic Pentameter. The couplet is divided into an octave (8 lines) and a Sestet (6 lines). During the first 8 lines of the poem a problem was posed, and a solution was proposed during the last six. This form of sonnet was immediately adopted by writers all over Europe. One of the most famoouse collections of Italian sonnets is The Faerie Queene by edmund spencer, about queen Elizibeth. The Italian Sonnet would remain the dominant form of Sonnet until a man named William Shakespeare appeared.
Shakespeare was arguably the most influential and famous European writer ever, and for good reason. As he studied literature he came across the Italian sonnet and found some ways to improve upon its form. He decided to expand the problem portion of the poem from 8 lines to twelve. This allowed for the author to go into a much more detailed dilemma. The solution was presented in a rhyming couplet at the end, giving each sonnet a snappy showy finish. The Collection of Shakespeare's sonnets is one of the greatest works of poetry. His outline of the sonnet was used by poets for centuries to come and is still the prevalent sonnet taught today. Many of the most famous poems of all time have been English sonnets, such as Sonnet 55 and Sonnet 130 by William Shakespeare and Sonnet 32 by Elizabeth Barrette Browning.
The English sonnet is more fun and entertaining to read or hear than the Italian sonnet. The problems are more in depth and the solutions are forced to be more creative. The English sonnet still remains more popular today, than the Italian, a testament to the continued preference of format. The worst produced in the form of the English Sonnet have traditionally been more famous than the Italian and for those reasons, the English sonnet is superior.
Learn more about this author, Matthew Jackson.
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