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A Petrarchan sonnet, also called the Italian sonnet, is a sonnet comprising an octave and a closing sestet. The octave is composed of two quatrains following the form abba. The sonnet has a volta between the octave and the sestet. This volta, or 'change', means that the subject or viewpoint or other important aspect of the sonnet will change between the opening octave and closing sestet. The poems usually follow the rhyme scheme abba abba cde cde, abba abba cd cd cd, and even abba abba cce dde and abba abba cdd cee or abba abba cd ec de. Commonly the poet identifies a problem in the first half of the poem, then the transition in subject or viewpoint will ultimately result in the poet's personal resolution to the aforementioned problem.
It was named for Petrarch, the Italian poet, and was later adapted into the Shakespearean sonnet in England.
An English language example, by Arthur Symons (1892):
- The Opium Smoker
- I am engulfed, and drown deliciously.
Soft music like a perfume, and sweet light
Golden with audible colours exquisite,
Swathe me with cerements for eternity.
Times is no more. I pause and yet I flee.
A million ages wrap me round with night.
I drain a milion ages of delight.
I hold the future in my memory.
- Also, I have this garret which I rent,
This bed of straw, and this that was a chair,
This worn-out body like a tattered tent,
This crust, of which the rats have eaten part,
This pipe of opium; rage, remorse, despair;
This soul at pawn and this delirious heart.
See also
"Petrarchan sonnet"