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The Sonnet Is Derived From The Italian Word

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Rosing 1
Olivia Rosing
Mr. Osher
English IV Honors 06
January 14, 2015

Sonetto The word sonnet is derived from the Italian word “sonetto” meaning “little song”. The history of the sonnet can be traced back to Italian origin where it influenced the rest of the world becoming a widely used strict poetic form for famous sonneteers. The sonnet sprung around the 13th century, according to the Folger Shakespeare Library it became significant in Italy when Francesco Petrarch first used it. This essay will discuss the Petrarchan sonnet, Spenserian sonnet and the Shakespearean sonnet. We like to think of the sonnet as a typical English form but the sonnet was first modified and shaped by Francesco Petrarch. Petrarchan sonnet is broken up unto an octave first eight lines and a sestet of final six lines. After its primitive start in Italy it took the Petrarchan sonnet over several hundred years to spread to England. The form was adopted in the Elizabethan period prominent for famous writers like Shakespeare and Spenser who gave it notable structure that we use still today containing 14 lines of rhymed iambic pentameter. Elizabethan sonnet typically appeared in a sequence of love poems in the manner of Petrarch. Today, writers have taken the English sonnet and

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