Discover the beauty and depth of famous sonnets in English literature, including works by Shakespeare, Sidney, Spenser, and more. Explore timeless themes of love, time, and mortality in these iconic poems.
Introduction:
Sonnets are one of the most revered poetic forms in English literature, known for their tight structure and deep emotional resonance. With 14 lines and a specific rhyme scheme, sonnets often explore profound themes like love, time, mortality, and beauty. Many famous English sonnets have been written by iconic poets like William Shakespeare, Edmund Spenser, John Donne, and Elizabeth Barrett Browning, each contributing unique perspectives to this classic form of poetry.
Shakespeare's Sonnets, for instance, are among the most famous, with his Sonnet 18 ("Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?") celebrating eternal beauty through the power of poetry. Shakespeare’s Sonnet 116 further explores the theme of enduring love, making it one of the most quoted sonnets in English literature.
Another significant sonnet sequence, Sidney's "Astrophel and Stella", delves into the pain of unrequited love, while Donne’s "Holy Sonnets" address themes of death, divine love, and spiritual conflict. Similarly, Edmund Spenser’s "Amoretti" portrays courtship and love with the poet’s own romantic journey with his future wife, Elizabeth Boyle.
In the Romantic period, poets like William Wordsworth and John Keats used the sonnet form to explore nature and the human condition. Wordsworth’s "The World is Too Much with Us" laments the disconnection from nature in the modern world, while Keats’ "On First Looking into Chapman’s Homer" celebrates the awe of discovering new worlds through literature.
These timeless works showcase the versatility of the sonnet form, offering rich insights into the human experience. Whether celebrating love, mourning loss, or contemplating time’s passage, these famous sonnets continue to captivate readers worldwide. Explore the beauty and depth of English sonnets, a cornerstone of poetic tradition.
The first sonnet in English literature is generally credited to Sir Thomas Wyatt, an English poet of the 16th century. He is believed to have introduced the sonnet to England after being inspired by the works of the Italian poet Petrarch.
One of Wyatt’s earliest and most famous sonnets is “Whoso List to Hunt,” which is often regarded as the first notable sonnet in English literature. This poem, written in the early 16th century, is a Petrarchan (Italian) sonnet and reflects the courtly love tradition prevalent in that era.
1. Petrarchan (Italian) Sonnet
- Structure: Octave (8 lines) and sestet (6 lines).
- Rhyme Scheme:
- Octave: ABBAABBA
- Sestet: Commonly CDECDE, CDCDCD, or CDEDCE
- Theme: The octave introduces a problem, and the sestet provides a resolution or reflection.
- Ex:
John Milton's "On His Blindness"
Octave:
When I consider how my light is spent (A)
Ere half my days in this dark world and wide, (B)
And that one talent which is death to hide (B)
Lodged with me useless, though my soul more bent (A)
To serve therewith my Maker, and present (A)
My true account, lest He returning chide; (B)
"Doth God exact day-labour, light denied?" (B)
I fondly ask. But Patience, to prevent (A)
Sestet:
That murmur, soon replies, "God doth not need (C)
Either man’s work or His own gifts; who best (D)
Bear His mild yoke, they serve Him best. His state (E)
Is Kingly: thousands at His bidding speed, (C)
And post o’er land and ocean without rest; (D)
They also serve who only stand and wait." (E)
- Octave: ABBAABBA
- Sestet: Commonly CDECDE, CDCDCD, or CDEDCE
John Milton's "On His Blindness"
Octave:
When I consider how my light is spent (A)
Ere half my days in this dark world and wide, (B)
And that one talent which is death to hide (B)
Lodged with me useless, though my soul more bent (A)
To serve therewith my Maker, and present (A)
My true account, lest He returning chide; (B)
"Doth God exact day-labour, light denied?" (B)
I fondly ask. But Patience, to prevent (A)Sestet:
That murmur, soon replies, "God doth not need (C)
Either man’s work or His own gifts; who best (D)
Bear His mild yoke, they serve Him best. His state (E)
Is Kingly: thousands at His bidding speed, (C)
And post o’er land and ocean without rest; (D)
They also serve who only stand and wait." (E)
2. Shakespearean (English) Sonnet
- Structure: Three quatrains (4 lines each) and a concluding couplet (2 lines).
- Rhyme Scheme: ABABCDCDEFEFGG
- Theme: Develops a theme in the quatrains and delivers a resolution or twist in the couplet.
- Ex:
William Shakespeare's Sonnet 18 ("Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?")
Quatrain 1:
Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? (A)
Thou art more lovely and more temperate: (B)
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, (A)
And summer’s lease hath all too short a date: (B)
Quatrain 2:
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines, (C)
And often is his gold complexion dimmed; (D)
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
(C)
By chance, or nature’s changing course, untrimmed; (D)
Quatrain 3:
But thy eternal summer shall not fade, (E)
Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest; (F)
Nor shall death brag thou wanderest in his shade, (E)
When in eternal lines to time thou growest: (F)
Couplet:
So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see, (G)
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee. (G)
William Shakespeare's Sonnet 18 ("Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?")
Quatrain 1:
Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? (A)
Thou art more lovely and more temperate: (B)
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, (A)
And summer’s lease hath all too short a date: (B)Quatrain 2:
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines, (C)
And often is his gold complexion dimmed; (D)
And every fair from fair sometime declines, (C)
By chance, or nature’s changing course, untrimmed; (D)Quatrain 3:
But thy eternal summer shall not fade, (E)
Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest; (F)
Nor shall death brag thou wanderest in his shade, (E)
When in eternal lines to time thou growest: (F)Couplet:
So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see, (G)
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee. (G)
3. Spenserian Sonnet
- Structure: Three quatrains and a couplet, with interlocking rhymes.
- Rhyme Scheme: ABABBCBCCDCDEE
- Theme: Often focuses on love, beauty, and morality.
- Example:
Edmund Spenser's Sonnet 75 ("One day I wrote her name upon the strand")
One day I wrote her name upon the strand, (A)
But came the waves and washed it away: (B)
Again I wrote it with a second hand, (A)
But came the tide, and made my pains his prey. (B)
"Vain man," said she, "that dost in vain assay (B)
A mortal thing so to immortalize, (C)
For I myself shall like to this decay, (B)
And eke my name be wiped out likewise." (C)
"Not so," quoth I, "let baser things devise (C)
To die in dust, but you shall live by fame: (D)
My verse your virtues rare shall eternize, (C)
And in the heavens write your glorious name. (D)
Where whenas death shall all the world subdue, (E)
Our love shall live, and later life renew." (E)
Edmund Spenser's Sonnet 75 ("One day I wrote her name upon the strand")
One day I wrote her name upon the strand, (A)
But came the waves and washed it away: (B)
Again I wrote it with a second hand, (A)
But came the tide, and made my pains his prey. (B)"Vain man," said she, "that dost in vain assay (B)
A mortal thing so to immortalize, (C)
For I myself shall like to this decay, (B)
And eke my name be wiped out likewise." (C)"Not so," quoth I, "let baser things devise (C)
To die in dust, but you shall live by fame: (D)
My verse your virtues rare shall eternize, (C)
And in the heavens write your glorious name. (D)Where whenas death shall all the world subdue, (E)
Our love shall live, and later life renew." (E)
4. Miltonic Sonnet
- Structure: Similar to Petrarchan but often more philosophical and with no strict division between octave and sestet.
- Rhyme Scheme: ABBAABBA CDECDE (flexible in the sestet).
- Example:
John Milton's "On the Late Massacre in Piedmont"
Avenge, O Lord, thy slaughtered saints, whose bones (A)
Lie scattered on the Alpine mountains cold; (B)
Even them who kept thy truth so pure of old, (B)
When all our fathers worshipped stocks and stones. (A)
Forget not: in thy book record their groans (A)
Who were thy sheep and in their ancient fold (B)
Slain by the bloody Piemontese, that rolled (B)
Mother with infant down the rocks. Their moans (A)
The vales redoubled to the hills, and they (C)
To heaven. Their martyred blood and ashes sow (D)
O'er all the Italian fields, where still doth sway (C)
The triple tyrant: that from these may grow (D)
A hundredfold, who, having learnt thy way, (E)
Early may fly the Babylonian woe. (E)
John Milton's "On the Late Massacre in Piedmont"
Avenge, O Lord, thy slaughtered saints, whose bones (A)
Lie scattered on the Alpine mountains cold; (B)
Even them who kept thy truth so pure of old, (B)
When all our fathers worshipped stocks and stones. (A)Forget not: in thy book record their groans (A)
Who were thy sheep and in their ancient fold (B)
Slain by the bloody Piemontese, that rolled (B)
Mother with infant down the rocks. Their moans (A)The vales redoubled to the hills, and they (C)
To heaven. Their martyred blood and ashes sow (D)
O'er all the Italian fields, where still doth sway (C)
The triple tyrant: that from these may grow (D)
A hundredfold, who, having learnt thy way, (E)
Early may fly the Babylonian woe. (E)
5. Terza Rima Sonnet
Structure: Made up of interconnected tercets (3-line stanzas) followed by a rhyming couplet.
Rhyme Scheme: ABA BCB CDC DED EE
Theme: Often explores philosophical, reflective, or natural themes.
Example: Percy Bysshe Shelley's "Ode to the West Wind" (adapted in sonnet form).
O wild West Wind, thou breath of Autumn's being, (A)
Thou, from whose unseen presence the leaves dead (B)
Are driven, like ghosts from an enchanter fleeing.
(A)
Yellow, and black, and pale, and hectic red, (B)
Pestilence-stricken multitudes: O thou, (C)
Who chariotest to their dark wintry bed. (B)
The wingèd seeds, where they lie cold and low, (C)
Each like a corpse within its grave, until (D)
Thine azure sister of the Spring shall blow (C)
Her clarion o’er the dreaming earth, and fill (D)
(Driving sweet buds like flocks to feed in air) (E)
With living hues and odours plain and hill. (D)
Wild Spirit, which art moving everywhere; (E)
Destroyer and Preserver; hear, oh hear! (E)
Structure: Made up of interconnected tercets (3-line stanzas) followed by a rhyming couplet.
Rhyme Scheme: ABA BCB CDC DED EE
Theme: Often explores philosophical, reflective, or natural themes.
Example: Percy Bysshe Shelley's "Ode to the West Wind" (adapted in sonnet form).
O wild West Wind, thou breath of Autumn's being, (A)
Thou, from whose unseen presence the leaves dead (B)
Are driven, like ghosts from an enchanter fleeing.
(A)
Yellow, and black, and pale, and hectic red, (B)
Pestilence-stricken multitudes: O thou, (C)
Who chariotest to their dark wintry bed. (B)
The wingèd seeds, where they lie cold and low, (C)
Each like a corpse within its grave, until (D)
Thine azure sister of the Spring shall blow (C)
Her clarion o’er the dreaming earth, and fill (D)
(Driving sweet buds like flocks to feed in air) (E)
With living hues and odours plain and hill. (D)
Wild Spirit, which art moving everywhere; (E)
Destroyer and Preserver; hear, oh hear! (E)
6. Curtal Sonnet
Structure: A shorter sonnet with 10.5 lines (often in the ratio 6:4:0.5). Invented by Gerard Manley Hopkins.
Rhyme Scheme: Variable but often ABCABC DBCDC.
Theme: Celebrates nature and God with vivid imagery and innovative language.
Example: Gerard Manley Hopkins' "Pied Beauty"
Glory be to God for dappled things— (A)For skies of couple-colour as a brinded cow; (B)For rose-moles all in stipple upon trout that swim; (C)Fresh-firecoal chestnut-falls; finches’ wings; (A)Landscape plotted and pieced—fold, fallow, and plough; (B)And áll trádes, their gear and tackle and trim. (C)All things counter, original, spare, strange; (D)Whatever is fickle, freckled (who knows how?) (B)With swift, slow; sweet, sour; adazzle, dim; (C)He fathers-forth whose beauty is past change: (D)Praise him. (C)
Less Common Sonnet Variations
Pushkin Sonnet
- Combines elements of Petrarchan and Shakespearean forms.
- Rhyme Scheme: ABABCCDDEFFEGG
Crown of Sonnets
- A sequence of sonnets where the last line of one becomes the first line of the next.
- Rhyme Scheme: Varies depending on the chosen structure (Shakespearean or Petrarchan).
Meredithian Sonnet
- Developed by George Meredith; consists of 16 lines.
- No fixed rhyme scheme but maintains sonnet-like thematic unity.
Modern Free Verse Sonnet
- Modern poets sometimes abandon rhyme schemes while maintaining the 14-line structure.
1. Sir Philip Sidney – "Astrophel and Stella" (1591)
- Type: Petrarchan Sonnet Sequence
- Theme: The unrequited love of the speaker, Astrophel, for Stella.
- Structure: 108 sonnets, primarily following the Petrarchan form (ABBAABBA CDECDE) with some variations.
- Example:
Sonnet 1
Loving in truth, and fain in verse my love to show,
That she, dear she, might take some pleasure of my pain:
Pleasure might cause her read, reading might make her know,
Knowledge might pity win, and pity grace obtain.
2. Edmund Spenser – "Amoretti" (1595)
- Type: Spenserian Sonnet Sequence
- Theme: Celebrates the poet’s courtship and eventual marriage to Elizabeth Boyle.
- Structure: 89 sonnets with the characteristic Spenserian rhyme scheme (ABABBCBCCDCDEE).
- Example:
Sonnet 75
One day I wrote her name upon the strand,
But came the waves and washed it away:
Again I wrote it with a second hand,
But came the tide, and made my pains his prey.
3. William Shakespeare – "Sonnets" (1609)
- Type: Shakespearean Sonnet Sequence
- Theme: Divided into two primary themes:
- Sonnets 1–126: The Fair Youth (admiration and complex affection for a young man).
- Sonnets 127–154: The Dark Lady (passion and turmoil with a mysterious woman).
- Structure: 154 sonnets, primarily following the Shakespearean rhyme scheme (ABABCDCDEFEFGG).
- Example:
Sonnet 18
Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer’s lease hath all too short a date.
4. Lady Mary Wroth – "Pamphilia to Amphilanthus" (1621)
- Type: Petrarchan Sonnet Sequence
- Theme: The inner conflicts and unrequited love of Pamphilia for Amphilanthus.
- Structure: 103 sonnets with occasional variations from the Petrarchan rhyme scheme.
- Example:
Sonnet 1
When night's black mantle could most darkness prove,
And sleep, death's image, did my senses hire,
From knowledge of myself, then thoughts did move
Swifter than those most swiftness need require.
5. John Donne – "Holy Sonnets" (c. 1609–1610)
- Type: Religious Sonnet Sequence
- Theme: Spiritual struggle, redemption, and divine love.
- Structure: 19 sonnets, primarily in the Petrarchan form, with some Shakespearean influences.
- Example:
Sonnet 10 ("Death, be not proud")
Death, be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so;
For those whom thou think'st thou dost overthrow
Die not, poor Death, nor yet canst thou kill me.
6. Elizabeth Barrett Browning – "Sonnets from the Portuguese" (1850)
- Type: Petrarchan Sonnet Sequence
- Theme: Deep and personal love for her husband, Robert Browning.
- Structure: 44 sonnets in Petrarchan form (ABBAABBA CDCDCD or CDECDE).
- Example:
Sonnet 43
How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of being and ideal grace.
7. Dante Gabriel Rossetti – "The House of Life" (1870–1881)
- Type: Mixed Sonnet Sequence
- Theme: Love, life, and death, with a focus on symbolic and mystical imagery.
- Structure: 101 sonnets, using Petrarchan and irregular forms.
- Example:
The Sonnet "A Sonnet is a Moment’s Monument"
A Sonnet is a moment’s monument,
Memorial from the Soul’s eternity
To one dead deathless hour.
Rhyme Schemes
| Type | Rhyme Scheme |
|---|---|
| Petrarchan Sonnet | ABBAABBA CDECDE (or variants) |
| Shakespearean Sonnet | ABABCDCDEFEFGG |
| Spenserian Sonnet | ABABBCBCCDCDEE |
| Miltonic Sonnet | ABBAABBA CDECDE |
| Terza Rima Sonnet | ABA BCB CDC DED EE |
| Curtal Sonnet | ABCABC DBCDC |
| Title | Writer | For Whom | Publication Date | Sonnet Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Astrophil and Stella | Sir Philip Sidney | Stella (Penelope Devereux) | 1591 | Shakespearean (English) |
| Sonnets | William Shakespeare | The Fair Youth, The Dark Lady, and others | 1609 (posthumously) | Shakespearean (English) |
| The Canzoniere (Rime Sparse) | Petrarch | Laura (idealized woman) | 1374 | Petrarchan (Italian) |
| The Amoretti | Edmund Spenser | His wife, Elizabeth Boyle | 1595 | Spenserian (English) |
| The Sonnets | Dante Alighieri | Beatrice (idealized woman) | 1320 | Petrarchan (Italian) |
| The New Sonnet | John Milton | His wife, Mary Powell | 1645-1667 | Miltonic (modified English) |
| Sonnets from the Portuguese | Elizabeth Barrett Browning | Robert Browning (husband) | 1850 | Petrarchan (Italian) |
| The Faerie Queene (Sonnet Sequences) | Edmund Spenser | Allegorical characters | 1590-1596 | Spenserian (English) |
| Sonnets (also called The Crown of Sonnets) | Sir Philip Sidney | Stella (Penelope Devereux) | 1591 | Shakespearean (English) |
Conclusion:
In conclusion, the sonnet form has proven to be an enduring and powerful medium for expressing the complexities of the human experience. From Shakespeare’s exploration of eternal love to Donne’s spiritual reflections, sonnets continue to resonate with readers through their concise yet profound structure. The works of Sidney, Spenser, Browning, and other iconic poets demonstrate the flexibility of the sonnet to convey a wide array of emotions, from the joys of love to the contemplation of mortality. These famous sonnets remain integral to the study of English literature, offering timeless insights into both the personal and universal aspects of life. Whether you are a student, a literature enthusiast, or simply a lover of poetry, the sonnet form invites continued exploration and appreciation for its beauty and depth.
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