The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1912-03-05
THE SONNET IN THE
PERIOD
4 Nineteenth Century Revival or an
ImDOrtant Form Which I1Au
Beer Long Neglected.

~ +. Ill
BY no means the least important
feature Of the poetry Of the victorian
ara was the revival Of the sonnet. I"l
revival the sonnet surely did nave
during that notable nineteenth CEN
fury period. Originated IN Italy IN
the early part Of the thirteenth cen
tury. introduced into England three
centuries later by WYATT and surrey,
used extensively and successfully Oy
Shakspore. Spenser, Sidney, Drayton'
and other E~lizabethan poets, and per-
fectcd to q high degree by Milton,
the sonnet became, In the eighteenth
century. an almost entirely neglected
form. And it is to the Victorian poets
that credit for revivin- the sonnet
really belongs; for although the we'll
nigh forgotten form began 10 re-
appear as early as 1850. and although
several writer's Of the Romantic
period. notably Keats and Words
worth. used ii with great Skill, 1t re-
manned for such poets as Mrs. Brown
ing and D.. G.. Kossetti, in their re-
snectjye SEQUENCES, "Sonnets from
the Portuguese" 1850. and THE House
of Life" 1863. to nring the sonnet
back to a state OF popularity APP
preaching that which the form had
enjoyed during the Renaissance. How
extensive the Victorian revival or the
sonnet was may we'll be realized When
it is remembered that =. G.. Stcdman
Included in his victorian Anthology
one hundred and seVcnty-s!X spec1-
mems of the sonnet COT which all but
thirty-eight originally appeared sub
sequent to 1850, n when Curtis
Hidden Page complied his British
Poets of the Nineteenth Century, he
discovered that the English bards
H ON TennySon to SWinburne, in
elusive. had written no fewer than
one hundred and fortv-four sOnnets
worthy Of inclusion III q book OF rep
resentative verse.
Eut if the Victorian era was n
OF revival for the sonnet. it is an IN
deniable fact that this revival was.
or the whole. accomplished by the
comparatively minor poets. For in
stance. Christina and Dante Rossetti.
Mrs. Browning. T.. Lee Hamilton, and
Martin Topper were notably success
full sOnneteerS; whereas TennySOn and
Browning, whose names, from u con-
temporary standpoint at least, rank
distinctively above these others. pro-
6uced SO few sonnets Of note that
neither Stedman nor Page has seen
ct to include any OF Prowning's SON
nets. while the only TennysOE SON
net included is Montenegro" which
Is given in the Page collection. Why
It is hat from the c n Of the two
men commonly RANKED as the fore
most Victorian poets there came few
II any notable %sonnets. has been eX-
planned in various ways by different
critics. OF the explanations, I have
seen none more satisfactory thar
those Of j. a. S~yn,Onds, who main
air that the particular kind Of arti-
ticiality and 1ixity of form which We
tiv1 In fhn cN~nn} io 81 or1inor -
Il poet highly creative in the sense
in which TennysOn was highly
creative. n that the sonnet. unless
avOWedly burleSQue, dOeS not lend IT.
structure to trenchaht ~pungencies @
phrase and startling freaks OF argu
ment" such as Browning was prone
20 employ.
Granting that the Victorian some
was. at its best. highly successful. tn
question arises: to what shall we at
tribute its success? How much O
this success was due to adherence L
old established rules regarding tn
form and substance OF the sonnet
And what important new discoveries
II any. did the Victorian poets make
To decide this matter, We must frs
lay down q very clear definition q
TO what the sonnet Is. In general. Q
course. we shal be satisfied with say
1HE that the some Is a poem o
fourteen iambic ~pentameter lines
n in particular. we can do no bet
ter than to accept William Sharp
division OF the sonnet into fou
varieties. as follows: first. Shak
Sperlan structure: secondly, Pc
trarchan or Miltonic structure; third
~. contemporary structure-that is
observance Of tho Miltonic octav
form. but freedom IN the rhyming
scheme Of the sestet: and fourth,
miscellaneous structure. which mus
necessarily include all sonnets nc
susceptible of classification else
where. To variety one, belong mos
OF the sonnets Of Aubrey De Yer.
their rhyming-scheme being q b q ,
C q c d. e I e +. e e: variety two
represented by Matthew Arnold
Immortality" which has a rhymine
arrangement Of a b b a, a b b a, G d
C d e: an example Of variety three
afforded by Rossetti's The Lover,
Walk" In which the sestet rhyme
c d d c c d: and in variety four "