The Sonnet

The sonnet is a short form with a long history and some fascinating variations. It began in Italy and made it’s way, later, to England.

Shakespeare wrote beautiful sonnets in iambic pentameter, Sonnet #71, etc.

• Look for how the form changes with time and how later poets want to outdo earlier poets in one aspect or another of the form.
• Notice how some of the later poets, both modern & contemporary, break with the strict sonnet form.
• Poets are always aware of the poetic traditions and forms that have come before, and they want to make the old new and fresh.

Some Questions to Consider & Write About in Discussion Posts:

• What was the primary subject matter in Italian or Petrarchan sonnets?  What are your thoughts about the content in Petrarchan/Italian sonnets?
• What does Shakespeare write about in his sonnets?
• Remember, with a form like the sonnet, the form is the poem is the form is the poem. Be sure to talk about form AND content.
• And how are the contemporary poets this week, like Gwendolyn Brooks & Billie Collins, paying respect to the sonnet form while simultaneously making it fresh?