If English poets of the 1590s retained the fleshly currents of Italian sonnets but discarded the ethereal aspects, John Donne did the reverse. "Monna Innominata" is especially interesting because Rossetti opens it by positioning herself opposite the Petrarchan tradition explicitly. Both authors acknowledge the sonnet's continental origins, as is evident the in the titles of their respective sonnet sequences, "Monna Innominata" and "Sonnets from the Portuguese." In these sonnets, the beloved individual is not idealized and unattainable, but his literal absence makes him inaccessible and thus allows the poetess to write about love introspectively. The most famous examples come from the Victorian period, specifically from the work of the poets Christina Rossetti and Elizabeth Barrett Browning. The sonnets by Shakespeare that address a "dark lady" resemble Wyatt's poetry in this respect.Ĭlassic sonnets by women also concern themselves with romantic love. It remained a way to express feelings of romantic love, and it continued to be voiced by a lovesick man, but it no longer portrayed an angelic blonde, "Donna." The writer chiefly responsible for introducing the Italian form to English, Thomas Wyatt, described love that had a deleterious, not uplifting, effect on its host.
The sonnet underwent another change when it arrived in England. In 16th-century England, Sir Philip Sidney carried on this tradition with the sequence "Astrophil and Stella." Dark Lady The quintessential sonnet speaker has the all the obsequiousness of a knight, but none of his success.
The Petrarchan twist on courtly love is unfulfillment. The medieval concept of courtly love informed these sonnets' idealization of the women, whose features the verses inventoried and praised. However other poets, including Dante and Guinicelli, also contributed importantly to the form. Petrarch perfected the quintessential pose of the suffering lover who is devoted to his unattainable beloved. The other term for Italian sonnet is Petrarchan sonnet, which reflects just how crucial Petrarch is to the sonnet's development and popularity.