The Petrarchan Sonnet: A Beautiful Poetry Form
There's something magical about squeezing deep emotions into just 14 lines. Among all the different types of sonnets, the Petrarchan sonnet really stands out to me. It's elegant, structured, and incredibly emotional.
This sonnet form gets its name from Francesco Petrarca (we usually call him Petrarch), an Italian poet from the 1300s. He basically created this style that became hugely popular during the Renaissance. Think of him as the grandfather of romantic poetry.
How It Works
The Petrarchan sonnet has two main parts, kind of like a conversation with yourself. The first eight lines are called the octave. These lines always rhyme in the same pattern: ABBAABBA. This is where the poet usually sets up a problem or describes something that's bothering them. Maybe they're heartbroken, confused, or wrestling with a big question.
Then comes the sestet - the last six lines. This part is more flexible with its rhyming (it could be CDECDE, CDCDCD, or other combinations). Here's where things get interesting. The poet usually offers some kind of answer, accepts their situation, or looks at things from a different angle.
The Magic Turn
My favorite thing about Petrarchan sonnets is something called the "volta" (which just means "turn" in Italian). It happens right around line 9, between those two sections. It's like the moment when someone suddenly sees things differently.
Picture this: the first eight lines might be all about how painful it is to love someone who doesn't love you back. Then boom - the turn happens, and the last six lines might be about finding peace with that pain or discovering something beautiful in the sadness.
What Poets Write About
Petrarchan sonnets tackle the big stuff. Love is huge, especially the complicated kind - unrequited love, idealized love, love that hurts. Poets also write about beauty, time passing, death, and all those messy human emotions we all deal with.
The language tends to be pretty elevated and sophisticated. These poets pack their lines with vivid images and clever comparisons. It's like they're trying to paint with words.
Famous Examples
Petrarch himself wrote some incredible sonnets about a woman named Laura. In one of his most famous (Sonnet 90), he describes how beautiful she was and how much it hurts that she doesn't love him back anymore. The first part paints this gorgeous picture of her, while the second part gets real about his fading hope.
English poets caught onto this style pretty quickly. Sir Thomas Wyatt and Henry Howard brought it to England in the 1500s. Later, heavy hitters like John Milton and William Wordsworth used the form to explore spiritual and philosophical ideas.
Why It Still Matters
What I love about the Petrarchan sonnet is how it forces you to be precise. You can't ramble - you've got 14 lines to make your point. This constraint actually helps poets create something beautiful and powerful.
The structure itself tells a story. You present a problem, then you work through it. It mirrors how we actually think through difficult emotions in real life.
Even today, poets still use this form when they want to dig deep into personal truths or universal experiences. There's something timeless about taking a messy, complicated feeling and shaping it into this perfect little package.
The Petrarchan sonnet proves that sometimes the best art comes from working within limits. It's been around for over 600 years, and it's still helping people express the most important things in their hearts and minds.
The Petrarchan and Shakespearean sonnets are the two most prominent sonnet forms in Western poetry, each with distinct structural and thematic characteristics.
Structure and Rhyme Scheme
The Petrarchan sonnet, named after Francesco Petrarch, consists of 14 lines divided into an octave (first 8 lines) and a sestet (final 6 lines). The octave follows an ABBAABBA rhyme scheme, while the sestet typically uses CDECDE or CDCDCD, though variations exist. This creates a clear structural division that often mirrors the poem's thematic development.
The Shakespearean sonnet, perfected by William Shakespeare, also has 14 lines but is organized into three quatrains (4-line stanzas) and a final couplet. Its rhyme scheme is ABABCDCDEFEFGG, creating a different rhythmic flow and structural emphasis.
Thematic Development
The Petrarchan form's octave-sestet division naturally creates a "turn" or volta at line 9, where the poem shifts from presenting a problem, question, or situation in the octave to offering resolution, answer, or reflection in the sestet. This structure encourages a more dramatic thematic pivot.
The Shakespearean sonnet's three quatrains allow for a more gradual development of ideas, with each quatrain potentially exploring different aspects of the central theme. The final couplet often provides a summary, twist, or pointed conclusion that can affirm or subvert what came before.
Literary Heritage and Usage
Petrarchan sonnets originated in 13th-century Italy and were particularly associated with expressions of courtly love and spiritual devotion. The form's difficulty—requiring only four or five rhyme sounds—made it challenging in English, which has fewer rhyming words than Italian.
Shakespearean sonnets became the dominant English form partly because the seven different rhyme sounds required made it more suitable to English. Shakespeare's 154 sonnets explored themes of love, beauty, mortality, and time with remarkable psychological complexity.
Both forms continue to influence contemporary poetry, with poets choosing between them based on whether they prefer the dramatic structural division of the Petrarchan form or the more flexible, cumulative development possible in the Shakespearean structure.
5 popular Shakespearean sonnets
1. Sonnet 18 – “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?”
This is Shakespeare’s most famous sonnet, celebrating the eternal beauty of the beloved through poetry. 🔗 Read Sonnet 18
2. Sonnet 116 – “Let me not to the marriage of true minds”
A powerful meditation on the nature of true love—constant, unchanging, and eternal. 🔗 Read Sonnet 116
3. Sonnet 130 – “My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun”
This sonnet parodies traditional love poetry by offering a realistic, even humorous, description of the speaker’s lover. 🔗 Read Sonnet 130
4. Sonnet 29 – “When, in disgrace with fortune and men’s eyes”
A deeply personal poem about depression and redemption through the thought of a loved one. 🔗 Read Sonnet 29
5. Sonnet 73 – “That time of year thou mayst in me behold”
A poignant reflection on aging and the passing of time, often studied for its powerful imagery. 🔗 Read Sonnet 73
5 popular Patriarchan sonnet
5 popular Petrarchan (Patriarchan) sonnets, including some by Francesco Petrarch and others written in the Petrarchan form by major poets in English:
1. Petrarch – Sonnet 90: “She used to let her golden hair fly free”
This is one of Petrarch’s most famous sonnets, describing his love for Laura with idealized beauty and deep longing. 🔗 Read Sonnet 90 (Translated)
2. John Milton – “When I Consider How My Light is Spent”
Milton uses the Petrarchan structure to reflect on his blindness and purpose in serving God. 🔗 Read the Sonnet
3. William Wordsworth – “London, 1802”
A patriotic sonnet where Wordsworth calls on the spirit of John Milton to restore England’s moral strength. 🔗 Read the Sonnet
4. Elizabeth Barrett Browning – “Sonnet 43: How Do I Love Thee?”
From her collection Sonnets from the Portuguese, this romantic sonnet uses the Petrarchan form to express deep, spiritual love. 🔗 Read the Sonnet
5. Emma Lazarus – “The New Colossus”
Written in Petrarchan form, this famous sonnet appears on the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty, welcoming immigrants to America. 🔗 Read the Sonnet