Rhyming sonnet. Dictionary of Poetic Forms

To the question what is a sonnet, asked by the author Ahmattullo Berdikullov the best answer is Sonnet (Italian sonetto, ox. sonet) - a solid poetic form: a poem of 14 lines, forming 2 quatrains-quatrains (for 2 rhymes) and 2 three-line tercetes (for 2 or 3 rhymes), most often in the "French" sequence - abba abba ccd eed (or ccd ede) or in "Italian" - abab abab cdc dcd (or cde cde). It is customary to refer to sonnets as "Shakespeare's sonnet", or a sonnet with "English" rhyme - abab cdcd efef gg (three quatrains and the final couplet, called the "sonnet key"), which gained particular popularity thanks to William Shakespeare. The composition of the sonnet suggests a plot-emotional turning point (Italian volta), which in the "continental" sonnet, as a rule, falls on the transition from quatrains to tercets, and in Shakespeare's sonnet - most often either on the 8th or 13th verse ; in a number of cases, however, this break is delayed by the poet, sometimes even as far as verse 14 (for example, in Philip Sidney's sonnet 71, "Who will in fairest book of Nature know...")
Structural features of the classic sonnet
Main
The number of lines is fourteen;
the number of stanzas is four (two quatrains, two tercetes);
repeatability of rhymes;
rhyming system:
cross or embracing in quatrains;
varied in tercetes;
size - common in poetry:
Dutch, German, Russian, Scandinavian countries - pentameter or six-meter iambic;
English - iambic pentameter;
Italian, Spanish, Portuguese - eleven-syllable verse;
French - Alexandrian verse.
Additional
Syntactic completeness of each of the four stanzas;
intonation difference between quatrains and tercetes;
accuracy of rhymes, alternation of male and female rhymes;
lack of repetition of words (except for conjunctions, interjections, prepositions, etc.).

Answer from tar[guru]
Like a poem, only there should be exactly 14 lines

Answer from Yovetlana Nosova[guru]
The word "sonnet" is translated from Italian as "song". This is a poetic work of the lyric genre. According to its content, the sonnet represents a certain sequence of thought development: thesis, antithesis, synthesis and denouement. However, this fundamental principle was not always respected.
The sonnet is the only lyrical genre where mathematics and harmony are so inspiredly merged. This is a poetic form, consisting of fourteen lines arranged in two ways. Two quatrains and two tercetes can take place here. Three quatrains and a distich are also possible. Initially, it was assumed that in quatrains there are only two rhymes, and in terzets there can be either two or three rhymes.
A sonnet is a work with a certain norm of syllables. Ideally, when it contains 154 syllables, with one more syllable in the lines of quatrains than in the lines of tercetes.
In the very title of this lyrical work there is an indication that the sonnet is a musical poetic form. It is the musicality of the sonnet that has always been and is of particular importance. In part, it is achieved by alternating feminine and masculine rhymes. When writing a sonnet, the poet must rely on the rule that his work should end with a feminine rhyme if it was started with a masculine rhyme and, accordingly, vice versa.
Shakespeare's sonnets

When studying literature, it is impossible to overlook such a form of lyrics as the sonnet. It is quite difficult to figure out what a sonnet is, examples of which can be seen in many authors. All encyclopedias say that this is a complex form, but there are many, at first glance, dissimilar writing works under this name. So, a sonnet is a lyrical poem of 14 lines. This kind of poetry is deservedly considered perhaps the most difficult to write, because when compiling them, it is necessary to adhere to many rules and principles. In addition, they are distinguished by a particularly literary, sublime language and philosophical theme.

Composing sonnets

Figuratively, sonnet-poems can be divided into canonical and non-canonical. There are not so many classical works, most of the poems have deviations from the rules, but they should still show the main features inherent in the genre.

There are also several forms of sonnets:

• Italian (abab abab cdc dcd or cde cde);
• English (abab cdcd efef g);
• French (abba abba ccd eed).

The rules are spelled out quite clearly, but now almost no one adheres to them exactly. There are many examples of sonnets with extra lines or non-canonical stanzas, among them there are even blank verses. Nevertheless, they all remain sonnets. Therefore, it is very difficult to say clearly and simply what a sonnet is, because one must remember that a sonnet is a work that is a solid form, but nevertheless it is distinguished by the greatest variety of variations.

The Canons of Sonnet Writing

During the Renaissance, the basic rules for writing sonnets were formed, namely:

1. The first and most important rule is that a sonnet consists of 14 lines. They can form two quatrains (quatrain) and two tercetes (three lines) or three quatrains and a distich (couple).
2. The correct development of the topic has a certain formula: thesis - antithesis - synthesis - denouement.
3. The sonnet has a certain size - iambic pentameter and iambic six-foot.
4. Each of the four stanzas of the poem is a complete thought.
5. Melody, which is achieved by alternating male and female rhymes.
6. Using only exact rhymes.
7. The use of words only once, there should not be repetitions.
8. The canonical sonnet contains 154 syllables.

Variations on non-canonical sonnets

Here are some of them:

1. The Onegin stanza is a very complex type of poem. It consists of three quatrains written with cross, pair and encircling rhyme, and one couplet. It was first used by Pushkin in his novel "Eugene Onegin".
2. An overturned sonnet is a form of sonnet in which the tercetes come before the quatrains.
3. Tailed sonnet - in this case, one more line or even several tercetes is added to the 14 lines of the sonnet.
4. Half - fully corresponds to its name, it consists of one quatrain and one tercet.
5. A headless sonnet is a type of sonnet poem that lacks the first quatrain.
6. Lame - has a shortened last line in quatrains.
7. Solid sonnet - has the full number of lines, but is written in only two rhymes.

Wreath of sonnets

One of the forms of the poem, which can also be attributed to a type of sonnet. Like all poems of this genre, it has a complex structure, but it has an even more complex structure; far from every poet is given to write such a work. A wreath of sonnets is a work of 15 sonnets. Its peculiarity is that the main idea of ​​the work is embedded in the last sonnet of the wreath, the so-called highway, it is written first. After that, the rest of its parts are written - the first sonnet begins with the first line of the highway, ends with the second, the second sonnet begins with the last line of the first passage, ends with the third line of the fifteenth. And so on up to the fourteenth part of the work, it begins with the last line of the main sonnet and ends with the first, closing the ring of sonnets. This type of lyrics was born in Italy in the 13th century; examples of such sonnets can be found in many Russian and foreign authors.

Thematic groups of sonnets

There are several groups (types) of sonnets depending on their subject matter:

• love;
• portrait;
• poetic manifesto;
• ironic;
• dedication.

Initially, the sonnets were intended to express the love of their author, which is clearly expressed in the sonnets of Petrarch. However, later everything changed. The themes of the sonnets became more varied. For example, this genre is very close to fine art with portrait descriptions of women. In them, the masters of the word expressed their personal deep respect for women, admired and extolled them. The thoughts that the author took as the basis of the sonnet, regardless of its subject matter, had one thing in common - beauty and depth. The only exceptions are ironic sonnets, in which the author deliberately makes the content of the verse more mundane.

History of the genre

The appearance of this genre falls on the beginning of the XII century, its ancestor is considered to be Giacomo da Lentini, an Italian poet who lived at the court of Frederick II. This type of lyrics did not gain popularity immediately, Guido Cavalcanti brought him fame, and in Europe they became popular thanks to Francesco Petrarch. The most widespread sonnet was in the Renaissance, it became practically the main genre of lyrics, it was written by almost all the poets of this time. Among them are Michelangelo, Shakespeare and many others. Later, in the 17th century, the theory of writing sonnets was formed in the treatise "Poetic Art" by Nicolas Boileau, the rules prescribed in it were considered canon for a long time.

Russian poets came to this genre only in the 18th century. The first Russian sonnet was written by V. K. Trediakovsky and was a translation of de Barro's work. Trediakovsky also established the obligatory number of lines and the presence of a philosophical theme as mandatory principles for writing sonnets, which are used to this day. Among Russian poets, one cannot but mention Pushkin. He did not just write in this genre, in his work "Sonnet" the poet presented its history, listed contemporary authors writing in this genre, thereby emphasizing its relevance.

In the 19th and 20th centuries, the wreath of sonnets became popular. Like the sonnet itself, it originated in Italy. The first examples of wreaths belong to the poets of the Silver Age. More than six hundred such works are known in world poetry.

William Shakespeare

The culmination of the work of all the writers of the Renaissance were the works of William Shakespeare. They collected and deepened all the best features of the literature of this era. There are many white spots and secrets in Shakespeare's biography. He began his career as a prompter and assistant director in theaters, later he became an actor, but he managed to truly reveal his talents in writing, namely in dramaturgy. Shakespeare's work can be divided into three periods. The work of this poet is distinguished by a variety of not only genres, but also themes, eras and peoples. It, it would seem, is absolutely typical of the Renaissance, emotionality, the swiftness of the development of events, some even fabulousness and fantasy were also found among other playwrights of that time. However, Shakespeare's works are distinguished by harmony and an amazing sense of proportion in this sea of ​​passions.

Periods in Shakespeare's work

The first period is distinguished by optimism, fabulousness and light cheerful motives. The first works of the author did not differ from the classical hard-to-perceive forms and plots with many characters. Thus, the young poet learned the basics of dramaturgy. Later, he began to bring fresh ideas into poetry, fill them with new meaning and look for more refined, ideal forms, without deviating from the canons of Renaissance dramaturgy. At the same time, he wrote a cycle of sonnets, which only gained due fame with the advent of romanticism.

The second period is significantly different from the first, it is characterized by a special tragedy and even some pessimism. At this time, the writer sets himself complex life problems, which are embodied in tragedies.

The third period is marked by tragicomedies, the happy ending of the plays is preceded by a real riot of passions with sharp drama.

Collection "Sonnets"

Shakespeare's Sonnets was first published in 1609. Around the book there are no less secrets and myths than around the biography of this mysterious poet. Many doubt that the sonnets in the cycle are in the correct order: some assume that such an arrangement belongs to the publisher or editor, others even believe that they are arranged arbitrarily. Nevertheless, the layout of the sonnets in the collection is of great importance for understanding its essence. Traditionally, it is customary to perceive the collection in this way: the characters are the lyrical hero, his friend and lover (a dark-skinned lady). Most of the sonnets are about the love of the author (lyrical hero) for his friend, pure and magical, this is a sublime and true true friendship. The author's feelings for the swarthy lady, on the contrary, are base and carnal, it is passion and attraction that enslave his mind. At the same time, many attribute homosexual overtones to poems dedicated to the young man, these suspicions are strengthened by the fact that out of 154 sonnets, only the last 26 are dedicated to a dark-skinned lady. However, confirmation of these assumptions has never been found. A significant difference between Shakespeare's sonnets and other works of poets of that era is that the image of the beloved is depicted not as a mythical ideal of beauty, but as a completely earthly woman.

The sonnets from the collection can be divided into separate thematic groups, but they all paint a complete picture of the complex relationships of the characters. The love of the author brings not only happiness, but also the pain of disappointment, his lady cheats on him with a friend. The drama and intensity of passions are growing, but the poet still understands that he cannot lose both of them, and friendship is more important than passion.

Many researchers of Shakespeare's work see this collection as an autobiography that conveys the real feelings and experiences of the poet, a real confession in a lyrical form.

Translations of Shakespeare's sonnets

The first translations of William Shakespeare's sonnets, written at the beginning of the 19th century, were rather weak from an aesthetic point of view. However, it is worth noting that such sonnets, which captivated readers, appeared already by the beginning of the 20th century. It is these translations that are considered classics. First of all, these are sonnets translated by Marshak, ideally conveying the ideas and essence of the original. For them, the poet even received the Stalin Prize of the second degree.

And the sonnets translated by Pasternak accurately convey the author's idea. The poet worked very painstakingly on translations, he rewrote some passages several times until he received a perfect translation. Pasternak translated many works of Shakespeare, the most famous of the translations was Hamlet, but among them there are only three sonnets.

Among the poets who translated the works of the great playwright, Tchaikovsky, Stepanov and Kuznetsov also stand out for their skill.

In addition to Shakespeare, examples of sonnets can be found in the work of other well-known authors. Among them are poets of various nationalities and eras, but all of them are united by the beauty of the style and the loftiness of thought in their works.

Great Italian

The sonnets of Francesco Petrarch, included in the "Book of Songs", brought the poet great fame, and the genre itself - widespread. The most famous works sang the woman Laura. The name he chose for his beloved fits harmoniously into the concept of sonnets, it is sublime and airy, like the feeling that the author describes. Francesco Petrarca also depicts the beauty of nature in his sonnets. Nevertheless, it is intended only to further emphasize Laura's charm, her elegance and attractiveness. Reading these poems, one can better understand what a sonnet is, pretentious comparisons, deification of an object of adoration, endowing it with unearthly, ideal features. The "Book of Songs" is divided into two parts: "On the Life of Laura" and "On the Death of Laura". In the first part, Laura is presented as a woman, the embodiment of the beauty and charm of the whole world. In the second, she is an angel, protecting and inspiring the poet. The collection has a chronological order, starting from the birth of a wonderful feeling of love in the poet's chest and up to the transformation of this love, which has already subsided after the death of the object of adoration, into a universal, heavenly, ideal feeling.

Charles Baudelaire

Charles Baudelaire became the forerunner and teacher of the Symbolists, the depth of images and ideas is expressed not only in sonnets. In his collections, the poet expresses the unity of music and words, the beauty of thought, a certain gothic and special appeal of the images he created. This idea is embodied in the sonnets included in the collection "Flowers of Evil". These works are the best illustration of what a sonnet is, and what special ideas it should convey.

Last year, while preparing for a reading competition dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the birth of Samuil Yakovlevich Marshak, I got acquainted with his translations of Shakespeare's famous sonnets.

At the lessons of foreign literature this academic year, I learned about the structural features of not only Shakespeare's sonnets, but also other authors. This genre blew me away.

These are poems that combine the opposite. In the work of Johannes R. Becher "Philosophy of the Sonnet" the definition of the sonnet as a dialectical genre is most thoroughly disclosed and substantiated.

According to Becher, the sonnet reflects the main stages of the dialectical movement of life, feelings or thoughts from the thesis, through antithesis to synthesis (position - opposite - removal of opposites).

The topic "Features of the Sonnet Genre" seemed interesting to me.

The purpose of the work: to deepen knowledge about the stable genre, to systematize them.

In the course of work, I tried to solve two problems:

1. Learn the history of the genre, the distinctive features of the sonnet.

2. Try to analyze the sonnets I have read by authors of different centuries, reflect the results of the work in tables.

The topic is undoubtedly relevant, as it allows you to show independence and develop the abilities of a critic.

2. Sonnet: the emergence of the genre and its distinctive features.

These lines of A. S. Pushkin are about one of the poetic genres that arose in the 13th century in distant Italy, but very quickly spread throughout Europe and from the 18th century to the present time has established itself in Russian literature. This genre is called the sonnet.

The term "sonnet" comes from the Latin word "sonare", meaning "to sound", "to ring". The classical sonnet has a very strict form, therefore it is classified as a formalized genre, that is, a heat, for which there are immutable rules, without following which the genre cannot exist.

Sonnet (Italian sonetto, ox. sonet) - a solid poetic form: a poem of 14 lines, forming 2 quatrains-quatrains (for 2 rhymes) and 2 three-line tercetes (for 2 or 3 rhymes), most often in the "French" sequence - abba abba ccd eed (or ccd ede) or in "Italian" - abab abab cdc dcd (or cde cde). The sonnet does not tolerate poor, inaccurate and banal rhymes. A sonnet most often rhymes according to the scheme: ABBAABBAVVGDGD or ABABABABVVGDDG

The main feature of the sonnet is that it requires a certain construction of poetic thought.

The first quatrain - some kind of statement, represents the theme of the poem; the second - the refutation of this statement or doubt about its reliability, develops the provisions outlined in the first, the tercet contains an explanation of the indicated contradiction, the denouement of the topic is outlined; the last tercet contains a conclusion, especially in its final line (the exact name is “sonnet castle”), followed by the completion of the denouement, expressing the essence of the work.

The composition of the sonnet also implies a plot-emotional turning point (Italian volta), which in a classical sonnet, as a rule, falls on the transition from quatrains to tercets, and in a Shakespearean sonnet - most often either on the 8th or 13th verse ; in a number of cases, however, this break is delayed by the poet, sometimes even to the 14th verse.

The sonnet originated presumably in the 13th century in Sicily. How the canonical form reached perfection with Petrarch, then with Dante, the author of the Divine Comedy. Michelangelo also wrote brilliantly in sonnets. From Italy, the sonnet passed to France, where it established itself as a classical form of verse in the work of Ronsard (16th century), to England (W. Shakespeare), to Germany (JV Goethe). In Russia, the first sonnet was written by Trediakovsky in 1735, this is a translation from the French classic sonnet by Barro, Trediakovsky translated it with his “toned” thirteen-syllable with feminine rhymes. Derzhavin also created sonnets.

The popularity of the sonnet in the first half of the 19th century is growing rapidly: from a parlor toy, it becomes the bearer of true poetry. Among German and English romantics, the sonnet is in great fashion, the sonnets of the Polish poet Adam Mickiewicz appear in Moscow in 1826, and in the same 1820s, romantic sonnets begin to appear among Russian authors.

Later, A. Pushkin, M. Lermontov, Afanasy Fet, Yakov Polonsky, Karolina Pavlova, Apollon Grigoriev wrote the sonnet. With all this, the affirmation of the sonnet was not without resistance. The greatest poets remain cold to the sonnet: the solid form seems to them too restrictive. Three Pushkin sonnets (1830: "Severe Dante" with a compliment to Delvig, "Poet" and "Madonna") - all have non-canonical rhyming; Zhukovsky, Vyazemsky, Yazykov, Lermontov can hardly find one sonnet each. The described era did not create samples that could form the basis of a continuous tradition.

The wave of romantic searches did not immediately recede in the 1840s - 1850s: a surge in the most characteristic form of European romantic lyrics, the sonnet, falls in Russia in 1857: this is A. Grigoriev's cycle "Titania" (7 sonnets. All, except for one, according to different rhyming schemes) and the poem "Veezia La Bella" (48 stanzas in the form of sonnets). He had no successors.

The sonnet continued its development in the 20th century, however, it was mainly the wreath of sonnets that developed. Wreaths of Vsevolod Ivanov (“Love”, 1909), Maximilman Voloshin (“Corona astralis”, 1910), Valery Bryusov (“Fatal Row”, 1917; “Light of Thought”, 1918) appeared. Later, M. Kuzmin, N. Gumilyov, I. Annensky, A. Akhmatova wrote the sonnet. In the middle of the 20th century, of the solid forms, the sonnet turned out to be the main (and, in fact, the only one). Abandoned in the 1930s - 1940s, it has been resurrected since the mid-1950s, many poets turn to it, but only with single sonnets or even wreaths of sonnets, like Antokolsky, Dudin, Soloukhin, Tarkovsky and others. The innovation was that, along with the traditional form of the sonnet, the "English" form (AbAb + VgVg + DeDe + LJ) began to be used - a consequence of the wide success of Shakespeare's sonnets in the translations of Marshak (1948) .

In Italian, most words have an accent on the penultimate syllable, and therefore, in Italian verse, usually all endings are feminine. Not being, therefore, obliged to take care of the alternation of feminine and masculine rhymes, Italian poets could afford a more varied rhyme in tercetes - for example, this: ABAB ABAB CFD DGV. The Italian sonnet is characterized by the complete absence of paired rhyming in tercetes; their typical structure is VGV + GVG or IOP + IOP.

Sonetto di risposta means sonnet in response. In the 13th century, Italian poets had a custom: when one poet addressed another with a message in the form of a sonnet, the other answered him with a sonnet written in the same rhyming words. In the circle of Vyacheslav Ivanov, an even more refined game was in use: the poet, having written a sonnet, sent it to another with unfinished lines, and the other, guessing the rhyming words from them, answered him with a “response sonnet” to the guessed rhymes.

Ivanov replied with such a sonnet to Gumilyov's sonnet.

So, in French poetry, combinations of “closed” (encompassing) rhyme in quatrains and “open” in terets, or, conversely, “open” (cross) in quatrains and “closed” (ring) in terts, began to be preferred, i.e. ABBA + ABBA+VVG+DGD or ABAB+ABAB+VVG+DDG. The first type was used much more often, the second - less often.

This is how the above sonnet is written, it is on a mythological theme.

Hercules, tormented by a poisoned cloak, ends up by self-immolation on Mount Ete and recalls his past exploits: the victory over the Nemean lion, over the many-headed swamp snake Hydra, obtaining the belt of love from the Amazon Hippolyta and golden apples from the garden of the Hesperides.

The French sonnet has a common feature - tercetes begin with a rhyming pair of lines, and then four lines follow, rhymed crosswise or inclusively. When the sonnet moved from France to England, the rhyming pair of lines shifted: now it did not begin, but ended with itself the tercetes (and the entire sonnet), and the quatrain, standing in front of it, took the form of the third quatrain. Instead of the French ABBA+ABBA+VVG+DGD or VVG+DDG we find ABBA+ABBA+VGGV+DD or ABAB+ABAB+VGVG+DD.

Then this form loosened even more, so that even in the first two quatrains the repetition of rhymes ceased to be obligatory: the sonnet turned into fourteen lines: ABAB + VGVG + DEDE + LJ. Such sonnets were written by Shakespeare, and they are usually called "Shakespearean" (although it was not Shakespeare who first introduced them into fashion, but the poet Sarri). The sharp beat of the last couplet prompted to build it as a catchy maxim-ending. There are many examples of this in Shakespeare's sonnets, in S. Marshak's translations.

It is worth noting that literature never stands still and rarely obeys monotonous strict canons for a long time. The forms of rhyme and other things have changed and are changing. But the formal basis of the sonnet remains unshakable: fourteen lines, completeness - from exposition to denouement, the sequence of development of the theme determined by this and the sonority of rhymes (sonare!).

Based on the sonnet, a number of derivative and complicated forms are built:

"a wreath of sonnets", consisting of 15 sonnets connected with each other according to a certain pattern; the Onegin stanza, which is an English type sonnet with the obligatory alternation of cross, pair and encircling rhymes in quatrains;

"overturned sonnet" or "reverse sonnet", in which the tercetes do not follow the quatrains, but precede them;

“tailed sonnet” or “sonnet with a coda”, in which one or more tercetes or an additional line is added to the work;

"half sonnet", consisting of 1 quatrain and 1 tercet;

"headless sonnet" or "truncated", it lacks the first quatrain;

"solid sonnet", written in two rhymes;

"lame sonnet", with shortened fourth verses in quatrains.

Let's take a closer look at some of them.

WREATH OF SONNETS.

A wreath of sonnets is a form of a poem consisting of fifteen sonnets. The wreath of sonnets is constructed as follows: the thematic and compositional key (basis) is the main sonnet (or main line), which closes the poem; this, the fifteenth in a row, sonnet is written before the others, it contains the plan of the whole wreath of sonnets.

The first sonnet begins with the first line of the highway and ends with its second line; the first verse of the second sonnet repeats the last line of the first sonnet, and this sonnet ends with the third line of the highway. And so on - until the last, 14th sonnet, which begins with the last line of the highway and ends with its first line, closing the ring of lines.

Thus, the 15th, main sonnet consists of lines that successively passed through all 14 sonnets.

The wreath of sonnets was invented in Italy in the 13th century. This is a very difficult poetic form, requiring exceptional skill from the poet (especially in the selection of expressive rhymes).

The first wreath of sonnets in Russian belongs to F. Korsh, who in 1889 translated a wreath of sonnets by the Slovenian poet F. Preshern. The original wreaths of sonnets belong to Vyacheslav Ivanov ("Cor ardens"), V. Bryusov ("Fatal Row" and "Light of Thought"), M. Voloshin ("Lun~aria"), from Soviet poets - S. Kirsanov ("News of world"), M. Dudin ("Orbit"), S. Matyushkin ("Autumn Wreath").

One of the most famous varieties is an unconventional volume, the so-called sonnet with a coda (“with a tail”), as here. The coda is not always limited to one line and sometimes occupies a whole additional three-line or even several three-line (mainly in verses of comic content; some lines in such codes are shortened).

Another variety is an unconventional order, for example, an inverted, or overturned, sonnet that begins with tercets and ends with quatrains, as in the cited poem by A. Antonovskaya.

"Headless sonnet" or "truncated", it lacks the first quatrain.

3. Sonnets of Petrarch and Shakespeare.

Petrarch's sonnets had a great influence on the growth of the importance of Italian as a literary language. They also popularized this form of sonnets, which was called the Petrarchian sonnet. One of the most important events in the life of Petrarch, which had a considerable influence on all his work, occurred in 1327. At this time, he met in the church of St. Clare a beautiful young woman, whom he sang in his sonnets under the name of Laura. This circumstance earned him the fame of "the singer of Laura".

Subsequently, Petrarch created a kind of ritual of worshiping his ideal - every year this day is marked by his writing a sonnet.

Perceived by many subsequent generations of poets, the canon of the Petrarchist sonnet included: “all forms of expressing love a la Petrarch: a repeated description of the perfection of the beloved (golden hair, star-eyes, etc.), which has already become canonical, her inaccessibility, the fatality of love at first sight, blessing torments of unrequited feelings, flight into nature (forests, rocks, grottoes), in which the beloved sees either correspondences or contrasts to his state of mind, the indispensable presence of torment, tears, jealousy, separation, nights without sleep or comforting dreams, prayers for death, transitions from hope to despair, etc.”

The lyrics of Petrarch are always filled with grace, the desire for beauty, she is very artistic. So, in the image of Laura, he uses pretentious, unusual comparisons: her hair is gold, her face is warm snow, her eyebrows are ebony, her teeth are pearls, her lips are rose petals. He resorts to such comparisons, trying to describe both his feeling and the role of Laura in his own life. He identifies his beloved with the sun, and himself with the snow melting under its rays. Speaking about his love, the poet compares it with fire, he is the wax that this fire melts.

In his work, the poet touched on many topics. It reflected his love for life, and the thirst for fame, and admiration for nature, and admiration for antiquity. However, along with this, in his works there is always the image of his beloved. He sings of love for Laura, the depth of his feelings, constantly admires her beauty. The desire of the author to convey the unique feeling that this woman evoked in his soul was reflected in the name that he chose for the object of his love. It also hears the breath of the breeze (translated from Italian L “aura means “breeze”), and the association with gold (aurum), and the personification of the eternal flow of time (L "ora -" hour "). At the same time, this name is consonant and with laurel - the tree of glory, and with the name of the morning dawn - Aurora.

Sonnets by William Shakespeare are poems by William Shakespeare written in the form of a sonnet. There are 154 of them in total, and most of them were written in 1592-1599. Shakespeare's sonnets were first published in 1609, apparently without the knowledge of the author. The form that managed to become popular among English poets under Shakespeare's pen sparkled with new facets, accommodating a wide range of feelings and thoughts - from intimate experiences to deep philosophical reflections and generalizations. Researchers have long drawn attention to the close connection between sonnets and Shakespeare's dramaturgy. This connection is manifested not only in the organic fusion of the lyrical element with the tragic, but also in the fact that the ideas of passion that inspire Shakespeare's tragedies live in his sonnets. Just as in tragedies, Shakespeare touches upon in sonnets the fundamental problems of being that have worried humanity from the ages, talks about happiness and the meaning of life, about the relationship between time and eternity, about the frailty of human beauty and its greatness, about art that can overcome the inexorable run of time. , about the high mission of the poet.

The eternal inexhaustible theme of love, one of the central ones in the sonnets, is closely intertwined with the theme of friendship. In love and friendship, the poet finds a true source of creative inspiration, regardless of whether they bring him joy and bliss or the pangs of jealousy, sadness, and mental anguish.

Thematically, the entire cycle is usually divided into two groups: it is believed that the first

(1 - 126) is addressed to the poet's friend, the second (127 - 154) - to his beloved - "swarthy lady". A poem that delimits these two groups (perhaps precisely because of its special role in the general series), strictly speaking, is not a sonnet: it has only 12 lines and an adjacent arrangement of rhymes.

In the literature of the Renaissance, the theme of friendship, especially male friendship, occupies an important place: it is regarded as the highest manifestation of humanity.

No less significant are the sonnets dedicated to the beloved. Her image is emphatically unconventional. If in the sonnets of Petrarch and his English followers (Petrarchists) the golden-haired angel-like beauty, proud and inaccessible, was usually sung, Shakespeare, on the contrary, devotes jealous reproaches to the swarthy brunette - inconsistent, obeying only the voice of passion.

Shakespeare wrote his sonnets in the first period of his work, when he still retained faith in the triumph of humanistic ideals. Even the despair in the famous 66th sonnet finds an optimistic outlet in the "sonnet key". Love and friendship so far act, as in Romeo and Juliet, as a force that affirms the harmony of opposites. The most remarkable thing in Shakespeare's sonnets is the constant feeling of the internal inconsistency of human feelings: what is the source of the highest bliss inevitably gives rise to suffering and pain, and vice versa, happiness is born in severe torment.

This confrontation of feelings in the most natural way, no matter how complex Shakespeare's metaphorical system is, fits into the sonnet form, which is inherent in dialectic "by nature".

The theme of this sonnet is the sonnet itself, the virtues of this genre. High vocabulary, evaluative metaphors and epithets, two detailed comparisons - everything is designed to praise the sonnet. Balmont is attracted by harmony, completeness, and beauty in the sonnet. The first comparison with the "refinedly simple beauty" indicates this. The second comparison with a dagger emphasizes not only the beauty, but also the qualities of a striking weapon. The sonnet lock expresses the essence of the comparison: "Cold, sharp, accurate, like a dagger."

The classical form of the sonnet requires a classical content. The favorite themes of the authors of Russian sonnets are creativity, dreams, love, beauty, Russia, its nature.

The work of the Russian poet Ivan Bunin is the theme of the sonnet. Echoes of many of Bunin's poems are heard in Severyanin's sonnet: he used visual, sound, and taste images in landscape lyrics. Likewise in the sonnet:

The sound of a drop, the rustle of leaves, the murmur of streams, the glitter of mountain slopes, the taste of wine. The northerner singled out the words in rhymes: drop-font - April hops. Drops - sounds, font - vision and touch, April - a feeling of warmth, hops - taste. Bunin's images are used: autumn estates, leaf fall, a dog, a gun, a fireplace, a feeling of loneliness - from spring to autumn. Metaphors: "Spring waters font" - a person in the spring is cleansed, renewed, transformed, feels his connection with nature in a different way. "Good loneliness joy" - awakening a thirst for creativity. Comparisons: “The verse is transparent, like northern April”, “it is warm with a cold star” - it preserves the memory of the warmth of the Fatherland. Oxymoron: "Mild steel." In the work of Severyanin, the sonnet lock is not a conclusion from the text. The author continues to enumerate Bunin's cross-cutting themes and images in the castle line, which is justified by creative tasks. When listing the images, the poet uses sentences without a predicate, often consisting of one word, emphasizing the conciseness of Bunin's style.

A romantic dream is the theme of Gumilyov's sonnet. The blue lily acts in the poem as a symbol of an unattainable dream, eternal restlessness, beauty.

The author uses lexical and syntactic repetitions. They are artistically justified. The lyrical hero of Gumilyov is a knight of a romantic feat. Anaphora passion, indomitability, violence of the forces of his nature. In conclusion, we can say that the sonnet genre allows poets to fully and clearly express thoughts and feelings.

5. Conclusions.

A relatively small number of so-called solid forms - strictly canonized and stable strophic combinations exist among the huge variety of poetic compositions of various genres. In terms of popularity and prevalence, none of the solid forms - the French triplet, the Iranian gazelle, or the tank from Japanese poetry - can be compared with the sonnet.

Appearing around the beginning of the XIII century. in Italy, this genre very quickly acquired canonical rules, formulated in 1332 by the Padua lawyer Antonio da Tempo, later repeatedly refined and tightened.

The most stable structural features of the classic sonnet are:

Stable volume - 14 lines;

A clear division into four stanzas: two quatrains (quatrains) and two three-lines (tercet);

Strict repetition of rhymes - in quatrains there are usually two rhymes four times, in tercetes other three rhymes twice or two rhymes three times);

A stable rhyming system is the preferred "French" sequence: abba abba ccd eed (or ccd ede), "Italian": abab abab cdc dcd (or cde cde);

Constant meter is usually the most common meter in national poetry: iambic five- or six-foot meter in Russian.

In addition, the sonnet canon also contains some other more or less universal requirements:

Each of the four parts (quatrains and tercetes) should, as a rule, have internal syntactic completeness and integrity;

Quatrains and tertsets differ in intonation - the melodiousness of the former is replaced by the dynamism and expression of the latter;

Rhymes should preferably be precise and sonorous, and a regular change of masculine rhymes (with stress on the last syllable) is recommended;

It is highly undesirable to repeat the same words in the text (with the exception of conjunctions, pronouns, etc.), unless this is dictated by the conscious intention of the author.

The subject of sonnets is extremely diverse - a person with his deeds, feelings and the spiritual world; the nature that surrounds it; expression of the inner world of man through the images of nature; the society in which the individual exists. The sonnet form is equally successfully used in love-psychological and philosophical, in descriptive, landscape, political lyrics. Both tender feelings and angry pathos, sharp satire are perfectly conveyed through it. And yet, the specificity of the form is primarily due to the universal adaptability to convey a sense of the dialectic of being.

The sonnet canon is not as immobile as it might seem at first glance. The non-canonical forms of the sonnet include, for example, "tailed sonnets" (sonnets with a coda - an additional verse, one or more terts), "overturned sonnet" - begins with terts and ends with quatrains, "headless sonnet" - the first quatrain is missing, "lame sonnet" - the fourth verses of quatrains are shorter than the rest, etc.

Sonnet (italian. sonetto, from provence sonet- song) - a classic solid form of European lyric poetry of 14 lines with various stanzas and rhymes, one of the most popular poetic forms since the 13th century, when he was born in Italy (the father of the sonnet is considered petrarch, who wrote the famous 317 sonnets about Laura, the new form was supported by Dante and many other Italian and Spanish poets of the Renaissance). The original stanza of the sonnet was as follows: two quatrains and two tercetes with rhyming abab abab cdc dcd(with an option for quatrains abba abba and for tercetes cde cde). A sonnet that fulfills only these conditions is called sonnet with italian type of rhyme, since the original sonnet in Italy was written eleven-syllable(cm. ).

Sonnets were written in France twelve-syllable with encircling rhyming quatrains: abba abba and two options for tercetes: ccd-eed or ccd ede. This form conquered many French poets, and this variant of rhyme began to be called French.

Experiments with form. In all countries, poets experimented with the stanza and rhyming of the sonnet - they arranged quatrains and tercets in random order, wrote in distichs, added one or two rhymes to the two-rhyme pattern of quatrains, attributed lines at the end (the so-called sonnet with coda), used sonnets as a stanza in large works, built freely or according to a certain law ( wreath of sonnets).

Over time, another well-established form of the sonnet in European poetry became English version, glorified by Shakespeare: three quatrains and a couplet (called a sonnet clef), written in iambic pentameter, with rhyming abab cdcd efef gg.

In Russian poetry, the sonnet (traditionally, as in German, written almost exclusively in 5- and 6-foot iambic) came to grips with Pushkin and, like all poets who are fond of solid forms, created his own version: 4-foot iambic with rhyming AbAbCCddEffEgg(uppercase - female rhymes, lowercase - male) and, although such a sonnet is written in one 14-line stanza, structurally these are three quatrains with all rhyme options (cross, paired and encircling) and a couplet. The plot of Pushkin's sonnet also breaks up into four parts: the first quatrain is the plot, the second is the development, the third is the climax and the couplet is the sonnet key summing up. Having created his sonnet, Pushkin immediately used it as a stanza and wrote " Eugene Onegin" (with free construction), so now this type of sonnet is called Onegin stanza.

In the twentieth century, a great variety of sonnet variants were created with the help of a synthesis of other classical solid forms, a variety of poetic meters and vivid creative experiments: a secret and secret sonnet, a monorhymic sonnet, rondel with code, sonnet trio-octave, sonnet-pentolet(double triolet), tercet and diseptet sonnets, three types of Japanese sonnets, ghazal sonnet, ring sonnet, funeral sonnet and many others. We have collected more than 200 varieties of sonnets, but we knew a connoisseur of poetry who regretted that "back in Soviet times he read, but did not rewrite in his youth, the samizdat manuscript of an unknown Russian poet", in which exactly 1400 different types of sonnets were described (one hundred for each line of the classical form). We hope to see her again :)

Options for using a sonnet as a stanza besides the traditional wreath of sonnets, in the last century also appeared a lot: garland(without backbone and looping), flower(from sonnets-rings with a highway consisting of strings-keys) with fourteen and an arbitrary number of petals, tercet two-leaf and trefoils connected by a refrain couplet in the middle, rings and bracelets (with a gem-line - another solid form, set in sonnet script) and many, many others.

In one article, you cannot give all the poetic examples of a sonnet and its use as a stanza - I think LiRu does not support such a volume of text for one post :), therefore, a separate more detailed article will be created for each form, and links will be provided here.

Sonnet to form

There are subtle power ties
Between the contour and the scent of a flower.
So the diamond is invisible to us until
Under the edges will not come to life in a diamond.

So images of changeable fantasies,
Running like clouds in the sky
Petrified, then live for centuries
In a polished and complete phrase.

And I want all my dreams
Reached to the word and to the light,
Found the traits you want.

Let my friend, having cut the volume of the poet,
Get drunk in it and the harmony of the sonnet,
And letters of calm beauty!

A sonnet is a type (genre) of lyrics, its main feature is the volume of the text: a sonnet always consists of fourteen lines. There are other rules for composing a sonnet (each stanza ends with a dot, not a single word is repeated), which are far from always observed.

The fourteen lines of the sonnet are arranged in two ways. It can be two quatrains and two tercetes, or three quatrains and distich.

You can specify the following sonnet forms:
Italian form (rhyming: abab abab cdc dcd, or cde cde).
French form (in quatrains there is a ring rhyme, and in terzets there are three rhymes:
abba abba ccd eed).
English form (a noticeable simplification associated with an increase in the number of rhymes:
abab cdcd efef g).

The sonnet suggested a certain development sequence thoughts: thesis - antithesis - synthesis - denouement. However, this principle is also not always observed.

Of the constant attributes of the sonnet, musicality should be noted. It is achieved by alternating male and female rhymes. The rule prescribed: if a sonnet opens with a masculine rhyme, then the poet must complete it with a feminine rhyme, and vice versa.

There was also a certain norm of syllables. An ideal sonnet should contain 154 syllables, while the number of syllables in the lines of a quatrain should be one more than in tercetes.

Italy (Sicily) is considered the birthplace of the sonnet. The most likely first author of the sonnet is Giacomo da Lentino (the first third of the 13th century), a poet by profession a notary who lived at the court of Frederick II.

The sonnet turned out to be one of the most common types of lyrics. It was introduced into literary circulation by the poet of the "sweet style" Guido Cavalcanti, it was used by Dante Alighieri in the autobiographical novel "New Life", he was addressed in the "Book of Songs" dedicated to the Madonna Laura, Francesco Petrarch. It was thanks to Petrarch that the sonnet became widespread in Europe. Sonnets were created by recognized prose writers Giovanni Boccaccio and Miguel de Cervantes, Michel Montaigne, and in Jean-Baptiste Moliere's comedy The Misanthrope, the conflict occurs due to Alceste's too harsh assessment of a sonnet composed by an aristocrat who imagines himself a poet.

In the 17th century, the genre of the sonnet received a theoretical justification. Nicolas Boileau, in the treatise "Poetic Art", which is the manifesto of classicism, devoted several lines to the praise of the sonnet, the rules of which were allegedly compiled by Apollo himself:

I wish you to know the French rhymers,
Strict laws in the Sonnet decided to introduce:
He gave two quatrains in a single formation at the beginning,
So that the rhymes in them sounded to us eight times;
At the end of six lines he ordered to skillfully place
And divide them into tercetes according to the meaning.
In the Sonnet of Liberty, he strictly forbade us:
After all, the count of lines and the size are given by the command of God;
A weak verse should never stand in it,
And the word does not dare to sound twice in it.

So Boileau theoretically consolidated the practice of composing sonnets, his prescriptions became the norm for a long time.

The first Russian sonnet was written in 1735 by V.K. Trediakovsky and was a translation of the French poet de Barro. Trediakovsky also owns one of the first and simplest definitions, which emphasized the constant number of lines and the presence of a sharp, important or noble thought.

Samples of sonnet lyrics were created by A.P. Sumarokov, who were also translations of Paul Fleming's sonnets dedicated to Moscow.

Pushkin in "Sonnet" ("Severe Dante did not despise the sonnet ...") presents the history of the sonnet genre, listing the authors of sonnets of past years. The poet fixes attention on the relevance of the genre, therefore, modern poets appear in him: W. Wordsworth twice in the epigraph and in the main text, A. Mickiewicz and A. Delvig. Pushkin himself appears here as a historian of the genre. The appeal to the genre of the sonnet in Pushkin's work was not isolated. For example, "Elegy" ("Mad years faded fun ..."). Despite the title, the poem is a sonnet in terms of genre, namely, a special variety of it, called the "overturned sonnet": two three-verses, which are separated by Pushkin, are in front of the four-line ones. Steam rhyme. This example helps to see the proximity of the sonnet form to other types of lyrics: stanzas, madrigals, odes, friendly messages. The similarity is in the closeness of the problematics and the duality of the sonnet, which acts either as a designation of the genre, or simply as a structure of stanzas. An example of this is Pushkin's poem "Elegy".

At the turn of the XIX-XX centuries, Russian poets began to actively use such a form as a wreath of sonnets. In a wreath of sonnets, each last line of a sonnet becomes the first line of the next, and the last line of the fourteenth sonnet is simultaneously the first line of the first. Thus, there is a wreath of fifteen sonnets. The last, fifteenth sonnet (main) is formed from the first lines of all the previous fourteen sonnets. The wreath of sonnets originated in Italy and finally took shape at the turn of the 17th-18th centuries.

The first original versions of the wreath of sonnets belong to the poets of the "Silver Age" Vyach.I. Ivanov and M.A. Voloshin. The most famous wreaths of sonnets by K.D. Balmont, V.Ya. Bryusov, I.L. Selvinsky, S.I. Kirsanov, P.G. Antokolsky, V.A. Soloukhin. Currently, about one hundred and fifty wreaths of sonnets by Russian poets are known. In world poetry, the number of wreaths of sonnets approaches six hundred.

You can note the following types of sonnets:

love sonnet

Sonnet-poetic manifesto

Sonnet dedication

sonnet portrait

ironic sonnet