From Sicily with Love: Does the Sonnet make you an offer you can’t refuse?

Abstract

The sonnet is one of the most popular forms of poetry and it has been around since the Italian renaissance. But what makes a sonnet, a sonnet (as it has changed in the hands of so many different makers)? What are its defining markers apart from it being a verse of fourteen lines? Are there any markers at all which can tell a sonnet apart from other forms of verse? Can we identify a sonnet if we see, and further, read one? To answer these questions, one must first identify what the sonnet is a part of. This study thus seeks to identify a couple of generic markers of the sonnet and by applying the same through some works through history to illustrate that the notion of genre is dynamic. As far as the markers are concerned, I will be looking into: a) The asymmetric structure and see whether the conventions regarding the fourteen lines or that hold true or not. b) The idea of having a beloved and see how it transforms with time. For convenience, I have limited my sample size to four poems by poets who I consider to be representational: Petrarch, Shakespeare, Milton and Hopkins. It does come from Sicily, and apparently, with ‘Love’ but does it stay like that? Or, does it make you an offer of change you cannot refuse?

Keywords

• yric
• sonnet
• mode
• genre