Poems Unravelled

Petrarchan and Shakespearean Sonnets

The Petrarchan and Shakespearean forms of sonnet are different in structure and rhyming scheme. The Petrarchan, also called the "Italian" sonnet, is composed of an octet and a sestet. This form of sonnet was composed by Petrarch, in Italy, and is the original form. It has a rhyming scheme of abbaabba in the octet, and the rhyming scheme of the sestet may be cdedce, cdcdcd or cdecde. All style of sonnets have one theme, but a volta may be present. In the Petrarchan sonnet, the volta occurs between the octet and the sestet, on the 9th line. A good example of a volta is in the sonnet "Upon Westminster Bridge" by William Wordsworth, written in the 19th century.

Shakespearan sonnets are but one form of the two "English" types of sonnet. The other form is Spenserian. Both the Shakespearean and Spenserian forms have a different structure to the Petrarchan -- they have three quatrains and a rhyming couplet instead of the octet and sestet. Shakespearean sonnets have a rhyming scheme of abab, cdcd, efef, which are the 3 quatrains, and gg, which is the concluding couplet.

Spenserian sonnets have a rhyming scheme of abab, bcbc, cdcd, ee. The couplet at the end of the English sonnet sums up the sonnet; it concludes it. The last 3 lines of the Petrarchan sonnet concludes what it is about, where the first 4 lines reflect upon the situation.

It is easy to distinguish between both the Petrarchan and the Shakespearean sonnet, even if they both have 14 lines. Once the rhyming scheme is determined, it can be seen if the poem is either of the 3 types of sonnets. All sonnets were written in iambic pentameter.

Discussion on "Do Not Go Gentle into that Good Night"

"Do Not Go Gentle into that Good Night" was written by Dylan Thomas earlier this century. It is a very good example of a villanelle, a type of poetry that originated in France with a pastoral theme. Its structure is composed of five tercets and one quatrain. The rhyming scheme in a villanelle is aba for the five tercets, and abad for the quatrain.

The first line of the first stanza is repeated as the 3rd line on both the 2nd and the 4th stanzas and the 3rd line of the first stanza is repeated on the 3rd line on the 3rd and 5th stanzas. Both the first and third lines of the first stanza is repeated as the third and fourth lines of the first stanza is repeated as the third and fourth lines on the last stanza.

The original theme of the villanelle was pastoral, though this is no longer a rule, as it was shown in Thomas' poem. It dealt with everyday life and used to have shepherdic undertones. "Villanelle" had an original meaning of having to do with a "peasant", which gives it more common beginning, more to do with the peasants of France.

The Origins of the Ballad

The original, or traditional, ballad form originated in Europe in the late Middle Ages. The ballads were composed to deliver a story as a song, to deliver praise for heroes and of romance. Minstrels and bards sang these in front of an audience, so they were generally impromptu, and therefore had a variable rhyming scheme and structure.

Ballads were sung all over Europe, in England and Spain and Russia. The Russian form of ballad was called a byliny, and had a loose structure and rhyming scheme. The Dutch form of ballad had a sound poetic structure, but its rhyming scheme was nonexistent. In Spain, the ballads had a loose structure, and its rhyming scheme was rigid. England's ballads had an oral tradition, and its poetic structure and rhyming scheme were generally sound. The English ballad usually held a structure of quatrains.

Modern ballads feature the Callipso and Australian bush ballad. The Callipso deals with political themes and issues, and the Australian bush ballad deals with the expansion of Australia in the earlier days, i.e. the colonial times. An example of an Australian bush ballad is "The Man from Snowy River" by Banjo Patterson. They generally had colourful language.

Traditional ballads normally dealt with a hero, romance or a tragedy. They held no information about the preliminary stages to the climax, but jumped to the climatic stage and went on from there, giving the characters no depth. They just explained the circumstances and climax in little language, searching for the most effective ploys to keep the audience interested.

An example of a traditional ballad is "Sir Patrick Spens", author unknown. It did not give the characters any depth; it only dealt with the circumstances in the most effective language, and explained what happened. This ballad was written in quatrains and its rhyming scheme was alternate.