Sonnets

The sonnets were not meant to be sungthough they were often mellifluous.the sonnet form evolved in Italy.It consisted of an octative,eight lines rhyming  abbaabba , and a sestet,six lines rhyming cdcdee or cdedce-fourteen lines all.The British imported the form and its worthy pioneers were Wyatt and Surrey. British poets adapt the form to suit the nature of their language. They divide the sonnet into three quartrains, four lines each rhyming ababcdcdefef , and a couplet at the end, rhyming gg. Perhaps the British were forced to use seven rhymes where as the Italians employed five partly, because English is a less inflected language than Italian and as a consequance, offers a less rhyming syllables.

                                                                        Philip Sidney and Edmund Spencer helped to create a vouge for sonnets.Therefore when Shakespeare began writing,he found available a standered form and a mass of conventional matter. His sonnets contain stock themes and stock language, yet he has placed his stamp on whole series.his sonnets do not simply pivot round the traditional relationship between the lover-poet and his lady-muse.eg;Full Many a Glorious Morning..............,Shall I Comparethee to a Summer's day...............,My Mistress'Eyes...... etc.