what are the main characteristics of a Shakesperean sonnet vs. a Petrarchan sonnet?

Answer 1

If i'm not wrong shakespearean sonnet has 3 rhyming quatrains-- that's sets of 4-- and a final rhyming couplet, usually epigrammatic in nature or a summary of what's been going on in the past few quatrains. the petrarchan on the other hand has an octet-- a set of 8 lines identifiable from the ensuing six-line sestet by its rhyme scheme-- that poses a question that the sestet will answer. for an example of a shakespearean sonnet;--

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.
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimm'd;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance or nature's changing course untrimm'd;
But thy eternal summer shall not fade
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st;
Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st:
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

separated into its identifiable characteristics it is thus;--

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.
--------------the first quatrain. day, may; temperate, date

Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimm'd;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance or nature's changing course untrimm'd;
-------------- the second. shines, declines; dimm'd, untrimm'd

But thy eternal summer shall not fade
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st;
Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st:
--------------- the third. fade, shade; ow'st, grow'st

So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
---------------the last summing up or epigrammatic concluding couplet that rhymes.

rhyme scheme is abab cdcd efef gg.

for the petrarchan--

How soon hath Time, the subtle thief of youth, (A)
Stolen on his wing my three and twentieth year! (B)
My hasting days fly on with full career, (B)
But my late spring no bud or blossom shew'th. (A)
Perhaps my semblance might deceive the truth, (A)
That I to manhood am arrived so near, (B)
And inward ripeness doth much less appear, (B)
That some more timely-happy spirits indu'th. (A)

Yet be it less or more, or soon or slow, (C)
It shall be still in strictest measure even (D)
To that same lot, however mean or high, (E)
Toward which Time leads me, and the will of Heaven. (D)
All is, if I have grace to use it so, (C)
As ever in my great Task-master's eye. (E)

the first 4 lines of the octet introduce the problem/question/issue, the second 4 lines develops it. the last 6 lines presents the resolution.

hope tt helped!

Answer 2

Forgive my temerity however the only flaw that i will see (if such or no longer this is), is a deviation from strict adherence to meter on the top of the octave. yet i'm on shaky floor the place sonnets are in touch! The coaching i chanced on a together as lower back provides the rhyme scheme for the sestet of Petrarchan sonnets as the two cdcdcd or cdecde. If it is in actuality splendid, then i anticipate you have chosen a distinctive one (it is, of direction, your suitable good). i don't be attentive to if ANY differences might bring about progression, because it type of feels only fantastic how that's. inspite of the incontrovertible fact that, i'm somewhat fascinated by your decision of rhyme in the sestet.

Answer 3

The main difference is their rhyme scheme. The English (Shakespearean) sonnet is ababcdcdefefgg. So in a truly good one, the "argument" of the sonnet is laid out in three equal pieces (each four lines long) and summed up in a two-line couplet (like Shakespeare's "That Time of Year"). The Italian (Petrarchan) sonnet is abbaabbacdcdcd (or might end in cdecde). So a truly good Italian sonnet, to make total use of its rhyme scheme, will present an 8-line set-up and a 6-line resolution (like Keats' "Chapman's Homer").

Otherwise, both are 14 lines long and iambic pentameter.