Question

The English poets of the early modern period use the sonnet form to investigate several different issues, including love, court politics, the writing process, mortality and legacy, and even individual relationship to God. Trace the development of the English sonnet, from Wyatt and Surrey through Shakespeare, Sidney, and Spenser, and too Donne and Milton. How does the use of the sonnet form throughout the period

Answer 1

Sir Thomas Wyatt (1503-42) and Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey (c. 1517-47), were the firsts to introduce the sonnet into England. Despite appearing as traditional love poems, their work was political as they usually include veiled references to the risks of following the king´s rule.

However, only after decades, Thomas Watson and Sir Philip Sidney (1554-1586) made the sonnet well known and even applied some modifications to the format in an attempt to adapt it to English poetry.

The High Renaissance´s sonnet had work by Sidney, Shakespeare, and

Edmund Spenser (1522-1599).

Sidney left behind the italian complex rhyme scheme to develop a new sonnet style, which could become known as the Shakespearean sonnet.

Since then, After Shakespeare, the sonnet has bee used in many subjects, like John Donne´s sonnets about religion instead of secular love, and John Milton´s contemplative sonnets.