In the development of the lyric poetry during the Elizabethan Age, the sonnet form emerged and developed to its maturity. The etymological history of the word “sonnet” draws us back to the Italian word “sonneto”, which means “a little sound”. Sonnet, a subspecies of the lyric genre, is originally a small poem that is sung to music. it expresses through rhythmic melody a single emotion or idea and differs from other lyric forms by its delicate manner and strict treatment. The great sonneteers of the Elizabethan era were Sir Thomas Wyatt, Earl of Surrey, Edmund Spenser, Philip Sydney, Michael Drayton, Samuel Daniel and William Shakespeare.
Sir Thomas Wyatt is the innovator of sonnet writer in English Literature. His thirty one sonnets are noteworthy. They appeared in “Tottel’s Miscellany” published in 1577. Ten of these sonnets were the translation from Petrarch. Apart from couplet ending, which Wyatt introduced, it was a Petrarchan model. Though following Petrarch’s models closely, he remains pioneer in the realm of English Literature. Sir Thomas Wyatt was successfully followed by his contemporary and follower Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey. His poems appears along with Wyatt in “Tottel’s Miscellany”. they are chiefly lyrical and including a few sonnet, the first of their kind composed in English or Shakespearian mode.
The next remarkable name among the English Sonneteer is Sir Philip Sydney. He was successful in more than one era of literature. In the development of English sonnet his finest achievement was his “Astrophel and Stella” which contains series of 108 sonnets about his own frustrated love for Lady Penelope Rich, daughter of the Earl of Essex. Like Wyatt his sonnets owe much to Petrarch and Ronsard in tone and style places Sydney as the greatest Elizabethan sonneteer except Shakespeare.
Drayton, another sonneteer of the Elizabethan age may claim some attention. He reached his highest level of poetic feeling and expression in “Idea” a sonnet sequence. It is not know if hid “Idea” represents one woman or several or more.
Samuel Daniel is a sonneteer of great repute. his poems including sonnet series called Delia(1592) written in conventional manner. His style and versification are pure and correct; some of his best sonnet have occasionally real jewels of expression and carry on the great tradition of Sydney, Spenser and Shakespeare.
Edmund Spenser a great name in Elizabethan poetry, also attempted sonnets. His sonnet sequence ‘Amoretti’ a collection of 88 Petrarchan sonnets celebrating the progress of his love. These were addressed to Elizabeth Boyle who became his life. The sonnets are unique in their purity of passion. His sonnets are exquisitely musical and lofty in feeling and thoughts. Majority of the sonnets are inspired by platonic idealism there quatrains are linked by an artistic arrangement of rhyme are following by a couplet. The result is a harmonious whole.
Shakespeare is great name in English sonnet and theatre. One hundred and fifty four sonnets of him stand out as the specimen of his art. The sonnets are insuperable for their loftiness. Picture sequence, profundity, and melody one hundred and twenty six only address to a young man of rather uncertain identity. Twenty six of his sonnets are addressed to an unknown dark lady and the remaining two are addressed to cupid, the God of love. Shakespearean sonnets are somewhat different from Elizabethan era. His sonnets are not merely about love but masculine friendship also. They are not realistic and does not have the sentimental adoration of the lady love. The lady in his sonnets is dark, not beautiful; frail and cruel, not consonant and kind. The fourteen lines of Shakespearean sonnet are divided into four parts three quatrains and a concluding couplet. The quatrains say the subject and the couplet sums it up. His imagery and thought are quite extraordinary for the era he belonged to.
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