why does shakespeare speak in sonnets?

Question

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Answer 1

The sonnet form had recently been invented in Italy where Petrarch was a famous practitioner of it. Like other English Elizabethans Shakespeare was fascinated or intrigued by new forms and wanted to try them out, especially something with romantic potential. Shakespeare and others changed the Italian sonnet so that it became the English or Shakespearean sonnet and somewhat easier to write in English. This resulted in an explosion of sonnets.

Answer 2

Stages of Text and Context

Study of the syntax, choice of words and allusions to contemporary events in Shakespeare's sonnets suggests that the poems were brought together as a cycle around 1603-1604, the period of Measure for Measure, King Lear, and Othello. However, some of the earliest sonnets were perhaps composed c.1593, the sonnets addressed to a sensual woman (the "dark lady" sonnets) echo passages in Love's Labour's Lost, written c.1594 and revised in 1597, and the sonnets addressed to a young man (the "fair youth" sonnets) were most likely written in 1597. Overall, the emotional conflicts the sonnets describe seem to date from throughout the 1590's. Because all the poems were likely revised right up to the time of the quarto's publication in the summer of 1609, the completed cycle stands as the cumulative reflection from Shakespeare's maturity on passions that flowered over a decade earlier in his life.

http://www.handprint.com/SC/SHK/sonnets.html

The Sonnets of William Shakespeare

"a Booke called Shakespeare's sonnettes".
The Sonnets of the Bard appeared, without his permission, in 1609 and advertised as "never before imprinted". The publisher, although reputable, clearly wanted to make use of the celebrity of Shakespeare who by 1609 was a famous member of the Globe Theatre and could count royalty amongst his patrons.

http://www.william-shakespeare.info/william-shakespeare-sonnets.htm

This is the web site of Shakespeare's sonnets

http://www.shakespeares-sonnets.com/icomm.htm

Here you will find the text of each Shakespeare sonnet, in addition to an analysis of the sonnet and a translation of the sonnet into contemporary English.

http://www.shakespeare-online.com/sonnets/

http://www.sparknotes.com/shakespeare/shakesonnets/

Answer 3

The sonnet was a highly regarded form in Elizabethan times. Writing good sonnets was a way for a poet to show off his wit and talent, maybe even to attract the attention of a wealthy patron who would give the author money to support his writing career. (Then, as now, it was difficult for a poet to make a living just by publishing and selling his poems.)

Sonnet do sometimes show up in Shakespeare's plays. For example, look at the 14 lines that Romeo and Juliet say to each other when he approaches her for their first kiss. If you check out the rhyme scheme of those lines, you'll see that they add up to a sonnet. Giving the young lovers their own poem in the middle of the play is the verbal equivalent of shining a spotlight on them; it makes their special moment together stand out from everything that's going on around them. On a different note, in "Henry V," Shakespeare makes the French prince look foolish by having the character announce that he has written a love sonnet to his horse.

Answer 4

Poetry in Shakespeare's day was much more highly regarded than drama and the status of a poet much greater than a playwright. Sonnets were one of the most popular poetic forms of his day, but much too rigid for most modern poets today. Sonnets also are written in iambic pentameter, which fairly closely mimics normal speech patterns, with its unstressed, stressed pattern. Robert Frost uses the same pattern in Death of the Hired Hand- he just doesn't use the rhyme scheme of a sonnet.

Answer 5

Shakespeare wrote sonnets and other poetry. They are not part of his plays.

Shakespearean plays are written in verse and prose. Prose is regular speech without a beat or rhythm. Verse has a rhythm, called "iambic pentameter" in Shakespeare's case. He uses this rhythm because it sounds a lot like regular speech, while also having a poetic quality to it. In his time, plays were often written poetically as an expression of art.

Answer 6

Because it wouldn't have sounded as romantic if he spoke in prose.