The newspaper., 1906-12-21
Sonnets Compared with
Modern SOnnets.
BY Miss AMIE MoLLER.

name appears to have been given
from the circumstance that the SON
nets were originally written to be
sounded in recitation,-that is,
chanted and accompanied by n mus
ical instrument mainly the lutte. So
IT falls properly within the class of
poetry called Lyric. This form OF
poetic expression is said to have been
introduced into English litera ture
by Surrey and Wyatt in the earlier
part of the 10th century. The SON
net IL always one stanZa OF fourteen
lines. Each type has a distinctive
rhyme scheme. The first eight lines
are sometimes called the major por-
tion and the last six lines the minor
portion.
There are several types of English
sonnets mainly distinguished by the
rhyme scheme These types are in
the main reducable to two, viz. The
Elizabethan and the modern. The
Elizabethan sonnet Hs the name in
dicates is the form that came into
use during the Elizabethan age of
literature. Sidney Lnnier in The
Science of English Verse" says, this
form of the sonnet has become sacred
to all serious people since the heaven
ly series of private prayers and CON
fessions which Shakespeare whisp-
eredin 1t. Elizabethan literature is
imaginative, human. real and natur-
nj that N 10 usnn1ar that hfS
form OF expression gained i'm favor
with the great writer's of that time
and became permanent I'm English
literature when introduced from the
Italian.
The sonnet contains one complete
thought. 1t developes one thought
or one emotion only. As an illustra-
tion OF the rhyme scheme we might
take the line endings of sonnet by
Henry Howard, Earl OF Surrey, who
was n co-worker with Wyatt in in
Producing this species OF Verse into
English. Thought breast, frought,
rest. pain, desire, restrainive. apace.
plains, face. pains, remove, love. 1t
will be seen in this Ellzabethan type,
lines one to twelve contain six
rhymes. line | rhyming, with 3, ,
with 4, , with I, 6 with 5, . with IL
and 10 with l.. and the last two
lines are rhyme couplrts. As an eN
ample of this | will read one by
Shakespeare whose sonnets really
establish this in English literature.
Some glory in their birth. some in their skin,
Some In their wealth. some In their body's
force.
Some In their garments, though new-fangled
Some In their hawks and hounds, some In
their horse;
And every humor hath his adjacent pleasure.
Wherein It finds Joy above the rest;
But these particulars ARE not my measure;
All these better In one general best.
Thy love is better than high birth TO me,
Richer than wealth. proudcr than garments
cost,
OF more delight than hawks or horses lie;
And, having thee. OF all mems pride boast:
Wretchcd In this nlonc,-that thou mnyst
take
All this away, and me most wretchcd make.
1t will he seen that this II an eN-
preston of IA single thought, which is
personal and generally emotional,-
that the thought Is brought to
climax in the couplets at the end.
The couplet is usually the most i'm
pressive of the whole. The sonnets
OF Shakespeare are the best repre-
sentations of the Elizabethan SON
nets. They are in reality what we
usually have In mind when we speak
OF Elizabethan sonnets. Although
there were many sonnets and good
ones written I'm the EliHabethan pc
Rod other than those by Shakespeare,
yet his sonnets really form the type
OF Elizabethan sonnets and far over
shadow those by other authors.
Shakespeare's remarkable knowledge
OF human nature, his exactness OF ex-
preston and intensity OF feeling are
shown In his sonnets as well as in
his plays. His sonnets as his plays
are perhaps the best that have ever