-The sonnet derived from italian poets Dante and Petrarch; the central

concerns of the sonneteers were love, friendship.. and the desire for women
who could not return the poets love.
Regarding form, the original Petrarchan sonnet was a poem of fourteen lines
of hendecasyllables divided into two part, the first containing two quatrains (or
one octave), the second, two tercets (or a sestet). The rhyme scheme is
usually ABBA ABBA CDE CDE The first octave often presents the situation
while the sestet includes personal reflections and sometimes the solution to
the dilemma expressed in the first part of the sonnet.
This form was later modified by English poets into the Elizabethan sonnet, a
composed of fourteen lines of iambic pentameters, but this time divided into
three quatrains and one rhyming couplet. The rhyme scheme is usually ABAB
CDCD EFEF GG. The English substitution of quatrains and a couplet for the
octave and sestet made possible more dramatic progression in the
presentation of feelings, and invited a summing the final often forms a
conclusion to up: the final couplet often forms a conclusion to what is
presented in the first twelve lines. The greatest sonnet writers of the age were
Thomas wyatt. Philip Sidney. Edmund Spenser and William Shakespeare.
-Shakespeare wrote a collection of 154 sonnets (in elizabethan form); his
poem are centered not only on the theme of love but they are also about te
passing of the time, of youth death and friendship.
The first group of sonnets, 1-126, is dedicated to a friend or one his patron; in
this sonnets, shakespeare wishes to preserve the eternal part of the young
mans beauty against the effect of the time.; the second one is dedicated to a
dark lady, any woman that he loved for a short time.
-Sonetto 18 (Shakespeare)
In the first quatrain poet wonders if he can compare his young friend and
patron to a summers day, but he realizes that he is more beautiful o summer
and of nature itself.
In the second quatrain there is the theme of time passing quickly as the
summer is short and soon declines in autumn.
In the third quatrain, but indicates that the poet is trying to discuss this thesis:
the beauty of the young man will not be destroyed by death because poetry
will have te power to bring to life the young man.
-Edmund Spenser Wrote a collection of sonnets, called amoretti, describing
his love for Elizabeth Boyle, Amoretti (88 sonnets) is followed by Epithalamion
(consisting of 365 long lines corresponding to the days of the year); they are
both in some way related to the course of the poets courtship of Elizabeth.
-One day I wrote her name (From amoretti series sonnets)
The poem is based on a dialogue between poet and his beloved lady. There is
a contrast between mortality and immortality . The woman argues that
everything on earth is mortal, subject to decay. The poet, however, replies that

he will make their love immortal thanks to his poetry. The main theme of this
poem is immortality of art. Art,and in this case poetry, has the power to
immortalize, to make mortal things immortal. The ladys name and their love
will last forever thanks to poets lines.