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Introduction
A sonnet is a type of lyrical poem which only consists of 14 lines. The sonnets were, at first, introduced by an Italian poet, Petrarch. He had made two sections in his sonnets, octave and sestets. In first eight lines, he expressed his feelings or ideas on a certain subject and in other six lines, he elaborated his opinions on another idea. The sonnets voyaged towards the shore of England in the 15th century where Thomas Wyatt, Earl of Surrey, John Spenser and William Shakespeare beautified and diversified the old fashioned sonnets. Although Wyatt followed the same old school pattern of sonnets by Petrarch, but the Earl of Surrey broke the bondage of octave and sestets and divided his sonnets into 3 quatrains and a couplet. The sonnets by Shakespeare are matchless and no one has ever reached the height of his sonnets. Petrarch is, undoubtedly, the father of sonnets but it is Shakespeare, who is the father of English sonnets.Critics
Shakespeare stands in front of the line of playwrights. According to some sayings, he has sketched more than one thousand distinct characters in his plays and none of them are the portrayal of his own personality. It is his sonnets in which he discloses his personality and his feelings of joys and sorrows. According to renowned critics in the Elizabethan Era, The Sonnets is the key through he unlocked his heart and made the world aware of the story behind his trodden heart.Also Read
Quality of Sonnets
Melody
Like other poems, Shakespeare's sonnets are melodified through rhythm and rhyme scheme. Every sonnet is written in iambic-pentametre and the rhyme scheme of his sonnets is abab, cdcd, efef and gg.Harmony in Expression
In 154 sonnets, Shakespeare follows the scheme of story-writing. His sonnets do not follow a random order of feelings and incidents, he has arranged them in an apple pie order. For example, in sonnet number 53, he sketches the physical beauty of his Fair Youth but in its couplet, he admires his friend's inner beauty. He continues the very theme in the sonnet number 54 and emphasizes on the mutual co-ordination between the lovers through sincere but true love between them.Purity of Emotions
Shakespeare's sonnets are the portrayal of his legit emotions towards his loved ones. He loved his friend and his beloved squarely and honestly. But when both of them betrayed him, he could not get across the grief caused by the gentle thief (which is also a fine example of puns and conceits in his sonnets) and his Dark Lady.Lofty subjects
Unlike other poets, Shakespeare does not agree to talk about ordinary concepts. He talks about the mature and lofty subjects like authentic love, time, conflicts and immortality.Characters
Dark Lady and Fair Youth are the protagonists of his sonnets. Many speculations are floating on the internet and in books regarding the true identity of the two characters. No matter what is their true identity, it is certain that the Dark Lady is not black by the black colour of her face; but the black colour of her hair and her black eyes. He had quite close relations between the two as he used to deliver his love letters through the hands of his Fair Youth to his beloved Dark Lady. But his friend tricked him and deprived him of his 'fair' love.Crowned Couplet
Three quatrains of his sonnet and the last two verses carry equal weight of meaningful ideas. He highlights a problem or a series of problems in twelve lines and gives solution in the couplet. It is termed as crowned couplet for its dominance of thoughtfulness and brevity in the sonnet.Artificiality
It is, obviously, quite an uphill task to compress a person's ideas, feelings and emotions into the bondage of fourteen lines. Thus the poet has to imply artificial elements, like the use of rhymes in impropriate locations, in order to beautify his composition to fulfill literary conditions of Elizabethan era.Positivity
Shakespeare is a man of a grand heart. He does not believe in taking revenge from his adversaries, even they play a double game with him. He forgives his friend when he leaves the poet to face the storm on his own but his friend returns while dragging an ashamed face along with him. Shakespeare forgives his friend in the following crowned couplet as thus:Ah! but those tears are pearl which thy love sheds,
And they are rich and ransom all ill deeds.
Sources, References and Citations
1. Lectures of Sir Mohsin Ghani
Tags:
Classical Poetry
