Francesco Petrarca, Canzoniere, sonetto

Voi ch’ascoltate in rime sparse il

suono di quei sospiri ond’io nudriva
’l core
in sul mio primo giovenile errore
quand’era in parte altr’uom da quel ch’i’
sono, del vario stile in ch’io piango et
ragiono
le vane speranze e ’l van dolore,
ove sia chi per prova intenda
amore, spero trovar pieta, nonche
perdono.
Ma ben veggio or si come al popol
tutto favola fui gran tempo, onde
sovente
di me medesmo meco mi vergogno;
et del mio vaneggiar vergogna e ’l
frutto, e ’l pentersi, e ‘l conoscer
chiaramente
che quanto piace al mondo e breve sogno.

Schema rimico: A-B-B-A A-B-B-A

C-D-E C-D-E

Francesco Petrarca, Canzoniere, sonetto

5

Quando io movo i sospiri a chiamar

voi, e ’l nome che nel cor mi scrisse
Amore,
LAUdando s’incomincia udir di
fore il suon de’ primi dolci accenti
suoi. Vostro stato REal, che
’ncontro poi,
raddoppia a l’alta impresa il mio
valore; ma: TAci, grida il fin, che
farle honore e d’altri homeri soma
che da’ tuoi.
Cosi LAUdare et REverire
insegna la voce stessa, pur ch’altri
vi chiami, o d’ogni reverenza et
d’onor degna: se non che forse
Apollo si disdegna
ch’a parlar de’ suoi sempre verdi
rami lingua mortal presumptuosa
vegna.

Schema rimico: A-B-B-A A-B-B-A

C-D-C C-D-C
 Philip Sidney, Astrophil and Stella,
sonnet 1

Loving in trueth, and fain in verse my love

to show,
That she, deare Shee, might take som
pleasure of my paine, Pleasure might cause
her reade, reading might make her know,
Knowledge might pittie winne, and pity
grace obtaine,
I sought fit wordes to paint the
blackest face of woe; Studying
inventions fine, her wits to
entertaine,
Oft turning others leaves, to see if thence
would flow
Some fresh and fruitfull showers upon
my sun-burnd brain. But words came
halting forth, wanting Inventions stay;
Invention, Natures childe, fledde step-
dame Studies blowes; And others feet
still seemde but strangers in my way.
Thus, great with childe to speak, and
helplesse in my throwes, Biting my
trewand pen, beating myselfe for spite,
Fool, said my Muse to me, looke in thy
heart, and write.
Schema rimico: A-B-A-B B-C-B-C
A-B-A-B A-B-A-B C-D-C-D E-E
D-E-D-E F-F
Philip Sidney, Astrophil and Stella, sonnet 5
It is most true that eyes are form’d to serve
The in ward light, and that the heaunly part
Ought to be King, from whose rules who do
swerve,
Rebèls to nature, strive for their owne smart.
It is most true, what we call Cupids dart
An image is, which for ourselves we
carve, And, foolse, adore in temple of
our hart,
Till that good god make church and churchmen
starve. True, that true beautie virtue is indeed,
Whereof this beautie can be but a shade,
Which, elements with mortal mixture breed.
True, that on earth we are but pilgrims
made, And should in soule up to our
countrey move: True, and yet true that I
must Stella love.

By looking at the Italian pattern, we can sate that the sonnets are divided in four stanzas(strofe), which are made
up of two quatrains (quartine) and two tercets (terzine). Both Petrarch sonnets have the same rhyme pattern, so
we compare the sonnets by saying that both present a stanza made up of an octave (the addition of two
quatrains) and a stanza made up of a sestet (addition of the two tercets), so we can thus conclude that the Italian
sonnet is divided in two parts, an octave and a sestet.

By analyzing the English pattern, we can clearly see that the pattern is different, because there is a stanza of three
quatrains and a final rhyming couplet (distico rimato ie. EE FF). so we can say that the English sonnet is
divided in two parts, 3 quatrains and 1 rhyming couplet, so it’s disproportioned in respect of the Italian one.
This poetic structure was introduced by Philip Sidney.

The numbers 3 and 4 are those upon which poetry, music and architecture are based and mad: number 4 is
generally regarded as being the number that governs our worldly/earthly dimension (4 seasons, 4 elements, 4
winds, 4 rivers of hell and paradise, 4 cardinal points, 4 evangelists), and the number 3 is traditionally attributed
to divinity (trinity). In music the notes are seven (three plus four) and for others they are 12 (three by four). Three
and four are the two numbers that make up the world.
The world above the moon the moon is regarded as immobile, immortal, golden, perfect, eternal and is governed
by the number 3, in fact this number is referred to the divine dimension, whereas/conversely the world above the
moon is mortal, impermanent, transitory, depending on time aging maladies diseases and governed by number
four.

The difference between English and Italian sonnets structure implies a different organization of the meaning, of
the themes, of the ideas and of the message.
Usually, the Italian sonnet has a very important specific feature, named “Volta” which is a turning point, it
means that in a certain point of the Italian sonnet there is a term, an image, an idea that reverses, subverts the
previous notions exposed or confirms, reaffirms, mirrors, stresses, highlights it.
In the Italian sonnet the turning point is placed in the 9th line, the line that introduce the second part of the sonnet
and therefore marks the beginning of the tercets.
In the English sonnet the core of the meaning of the whole sonnet is not placed in the 9th line, but in the 13th
line, where begins the second and last part of the sonnet, the rhymed couplet.
The 9th and 13th lines both provide us with the central, specific meaning of the sonnet.

Talking about prosody, in English sonnets we talk about feet, not syllables, a foot is a sequence of syllables,
generally two. In English poetry we usually have 5 feet for each line(10 syllables), and this organization takes the
name of pentapody or pentameter. The stress usually goes in the last syllable.
The 5 feet pentameter is defined the perfect iambic pentameter, iamb is a term that refers to a foot, that we
know it is made up of two syllables, in which the stress falls on the second syllable, therefore iamb in Italian is
translated giambo.
The typical Italian prosody is the “endecasillabo” with eleven syllables, the typical French one is the
“alexandrine” with 12 syllables and the English one, as said before, is the “pentameter” with 10 syllables.
The “blank verse” is the definition of the iambic pentameter.
Every language has its own musically way of reading poetry, its own manner of reading poems, depending on the
bare grammatic of the language, so every language has its own musicality and respects it.
English poetry, obviously accordingly to the English vocabulary, is dominated by monosyllables, thus since
English language for the majority is characterized by shorter vocabulary and its syntax simpler than for example
Italian, Spanish or French ones, of course the line will be shorter.
“versi” in English poetry are called lines
A trochee is foot in which the stress falls in the first syllable, in Italian is called trocheo

In Astrophil and Stella the sonnets number 1-6-8-76-77-102 are the only ones that are written in an irregular
manner, moreover they are all meta poetic sonnets, that talk either about how to write love poetry or talk about
high and mythological high matter, thus they are all written in a non-traditional way of writing sonnets, so that
they are irregular.
Sidney uses this strange prosody when he wants to provide us with high themes and matters and consequently he
uses high register.
A lot of sonnets and poems were written in an irregular way by many poets, like Shakespeare, Sidney and
Raleigh, obviously on purpose, to leave a message and highlight specific themes and notions to the readers.
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