I Misteri e la Struttura dei Sonetti di Shakespeare: Temi e Origini

The 'Mysteries' of Shakespeare's Sonnets

What is still mysterious or controversial about them is:

• Their author: whose identity and actual existence are still fiercely debated by scholars.
• Their publication: it is not certain whether Shakespeare authorised their publication or not. They might have been published without the author's permission.
• Their sequence: we are unsure of the actual sequence in which they were intended by their author.
• Their exact date of composition: they may have been written between 1585 and 1609.
• Their content: scholars do not know if Shakespeare drew inspiration from his personal experience or if his sonnets are just 'poetic exercises'. If Shakespeare's sonnets are autobiographical, they represent a sort of personal diary of the poet and contain his reflections on love, beauty, death, and poetry. If they are not, they have to be taken as the refined products of one of the best poetic minds of the age.

Petrarchan Sonnet

Composed of an octave (8-line stanza) and a sestet (6-line stanza). Rhyming: ABBA-ABBA CDE-CDE.

The octave usually presents a problem and the sestet contains a comment or a solution.

Volta between lines 8 and 9.

Shakespearean Sonnet

Sonnets are 14-line poems written in iambic pentameter = 5 units unstressed/stressed = 10 syllables.

Composed of three quatrains (4-line stanzas) and a final couplet (a 2-line stanza) rhyming ABAB-CDCD-EFEF-GG.

The first 3 quatrains contain a particular problem, which is seen from different perspectives. The final couplet (lines 13-14) introduces a turning point.

Volta between lines 12 and 13.

Main Themes

Shakespearean sonnets explore universal themes such as love, beauty, and death:

• The first group of sonnets (1-126) focuses on the poet's love for the so-called 'fair youth', a young man whom the author tries to convince to marry and have children (maybe hiding behind the identity of the Earl of Southampton, who was his patron).
• The second group (127-154) is focused on a peculiar kind of love: the poet's love for the so-called 'dark lady', which causes the poet a lot of suffering.