A sonnet sequence or sonnet cycle is a group of

sonnet A sonnet is a fixed poetic form with a structure traditionally consisting of fourteen lines adhering to a set Rhyme scheme, rhyming scheme. The term derives from the Italian word ''sonetto'' (, from the Latin word ''sonus'', ). Originating in ...

s thematically unified to create a long work, although generally, unlike the stanza, each sonnet so connected can also be read as a meaningful separate unit. The sonnet sequence was a very popular genre during the

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

, following the pattern of

Petrarch Francis Petrarch (; 20 July 1304 – 19 July 1374; ; modern ), born Francesco di Petracco, was a scholar from Arezzo and poet of the early Italian Renaissance, as well as one of the earliest Renaissance humanism, humanists. Petrarch's redis ...

. This article is about sonnet sequences as integrated wholes. For the form of individual sonnets, see

Sonnet A sonnet is a fixed poetic form with a structure traditionally consisting of fourteen lines adhering to a set Rhyme scheme, rhyming scheme. The term derives from the Italian word ''sonetto'' (, from the Latin word ''sonus'', ). Originating in ...

. Sonnet sequences are typically closely based on Petrarch, either closely emulating his example or working against it. The subject is usually the speaker's unhappy love for a distant beloved, following the

courtly love Courtly love ( ; ) was a medieval European literary conception of love that emphasized nobility and chivalry. Medieval literature is filled with examples of knights setting out on adventures and performing various deeds or services for ladies b ...

tradition of the

troubadours A troubadour (, ; ) was a composer and performer of Old Occitan lyric poetry during the High Middle Ages (1100–1350). Since the word ''troubadour'' is etymologically masculine, a female equivalent is usually called a ''trobairitz''. The tro ...

, from whom the genre ultimately derived. An exception is

Edmund Spenser Edmund Spenser (; – 13 January 1599 Old Style and New Style dates, O.S.) was an English poet best known for ''The Faerie Queene'', an epic poem and fantastical allegory celebrating the House of Tudor, Tudor dynasty and Elizabeth I. He is re ...

's ''Amoretti'', where the wooing is successful, and the sequence ends with an Epithalamion, a marriage song. The arrangement of the sonnets generally reflects thematic concerns, with chronological arrangements (whether linear, like a progression, or cyclical, like the seasons) being the most common. A sonnet sequence may also have allegorical or argumentative structures which replace or complement chronology. Although many sonnet sequences at least pretend to be autobiographical, the genre became a very stylised one, and most sonnet sequences are better approached as attempts to create an erotic

persona A persona (plural personae or personas) is a strategic mask of identity in public, the public image of one's personality, the social role that one adopts, or simply a fictional Character (arts), character. It is also considered "an intermediary ...

in which wit and

originality Originality is the aspect of created or invented works that distinguish them from reproductions, clones, forgeries, or substantially derivative works. The modern idea of originality is according to some scholars tied to Romanticism, by a notion ...

plays with the artificiality of the genre. Thus one could regard the emotions evoked to be as artificial as the conventions with which they are presented. While the thematic arrangement may reflect the unfolding of real or fictional events, the sonnet cycle is very rarely narrative; the narrative elements may be inferred, but provide background structure, and are never the primary concern of the poet's art.

List of Italian sonnet sequences

Dante Alighieri Dante Alighieri (; most likely baptized Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri; – September 14, 1321), widely known mononymously as Dante, was an Italian Italian poetry, poet, writer, and philosopher. His ''Divine Comedy'', originally called ...

, '' La Vita Nuova'' (ca. 1293, 25 sonnets to Beatrice, with commentaries and other songs) *

, '' Canzoniere'' (mid 14th-century, 227 sonnets to Laura, as well as 89 sonnets to Laura in death)

List of English sonnet sequences

During the late 16th century and early 17th century a large number of sonnet sequences were written in English, the most notable of which include: *

Sir Philip Sidney Sir Philip Sidney (30 November 1554 – 17 October 1586) was an English poet, courtier, scholar and soldier who is remembered as one of the most prominent figures of the Elizabethan age. His works include a sonnet sequence, '' Astrophil and ...

, '' Astrophel and Stella'' (1591), 108 sonnets and 11 songs thought to be addressed to Lady Rich, written between 1580 and 1584. *

, '' Amoretti'' (1594), 89 sonnets and an epithalamion addressed to his wife, Elizabeth. *

Samuel Daniel Samuel Daniel (1562–1619) was an English poet, playwright and historian in the late-Elizabethan and early- Jacobean eras. He was an innovator in a wide range of literary genres. His best-known works are the sonnet cycle ''Delia'', the epic ...

, ''Delia'' (1592), 50 sonnets. *

Michael Drayton Michael Drayton ( – ) was an English poet who came to prominence in the Elizabethan era, continuing to write through the reign of James I and into the reign of Charles I. Many of his works consisted of historical poetry. He was also the fir ...

, ''Idea's Mirror'' (1594), 64 sonnets to Phoebe; later reworked as ''Idea'' (1619), 73 sonnets. * Fulke Greville, '' Caelica'' (1633), 109 sonnets. *

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...

Sonnets A sonnet is a fixed poetic form with a structure traditionally consisting of fourteen lines adhering to a set Rhyme scheme, rhyming scheme. The term derives from the Italian word ''sonetto'' (, from the Latin word ''sonus'', ). Originating in ...

'' (1609), 154 sonnets to a variety of unnamed people, both male and female. * Lady Mary Wroth, '' Pamphilia to Amphilanthus'' (1621), 83 sonnets, included in ''

Urania Urania ( ; ; modern Greek shortened name ''Ránia''; meaning "heavenly" or "of heaven") was, in Greek mythology, the muse of astronomy and astrology. Urania is the goddess of astronomy and stars, her attributes being the globe and compass. T ...

''. Other English and Scottish sonnet collections and sequences of the period include: * Anne Lok (Lock, or Locke), ''Meditation of a Penitent Sinner'' (1560), 26 sonnets of a devotional nature based on Psalm 51, the first known sonnet sequence in English. * Thomas Watson, ''ΕΚΑΤΟΜΠΑΟΙΑ or Passionate Centurie of Love'' (1582), 100 'sonnets', most of which are of eighteen lines each, yet still emulating the general idea of Petrarch whom Watson had translated into Latin. *

Alexander Montgomerie Alexander Montgomerie (Scottish Gaelic: Alasdair Mac Gumaraid) (c. 1550?–1598) was a Scottish Jacobean courtier and poet, or makar, born in Ayrshire. He was a Scottish Gaelic speaker and a Scots speaker from Ayrshire, an area which w ...

(ca. 1580s), 70 Scots sonnets on miscellaneous personal, religious and political themes, many addressed to various persons, including

James VI of Scotland James VI and I (James Charles Stuart; 19 June 1566 – 27 March 1625) was King of Scotland as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the Scottish and English crowns on 24 March 1603 until ...

. *

Thomas Lodge Thomas Lodge (September 1625) was an English writer and medical practitioner whose life spanned the Elizabethan and Jacobean periods. Biography Early life Thomas Lodge was born about 1557 in West Ham, the second son of Sir Thomas Lodge ...

, 40 sonnets to Phillis (1593). * Henry Constable, ''Diana'' (1592). * William Percy, ''Sonnets to the fairest Coelia'' (1593). *

Anon Anon may refer to: Arts and media * ''Anon'' (album), a 2018 album by Hands Like Houses * Anon (band) * ''Anon'' (film), a 2018 British science fiction thriller film People with the given name * Anon Amornlerdsak (born 1997), a Thai footb ...

., ''The Tears of Fancie'' (1593), 60 sonnets formerly attributed to Thomas Watson. * Barnabe Barnes, ''Partenophil and Parthenophe'' (1593), 104 sonnets. * Giles Fletcher, ''Licia'' (1593), 52 sonnets. *

., ''Zepheria'' (1594), 40 sonnets by an unknown poet. *

Richard Barnfield Richard Barnfield (baptized 29 June 1574 – 1620) was an English poet. His relationship with William Shakespeare has long made him interesting to scholars. It has been suggested that he was the " rival poet" mentioned in Shakespeare's sonnet ...

(1595), 20 sonnets appended to his '' Cynthia''. * E.C. Esq., ''Emaricdulfe'' (1595), 40 sonnets. * Bartholomew Griffin, ''Fidessa, more chaste than kind'' (1596), 62 sonnets. *Richard Linch

''Diella'' (1596), 39 sonnets. * William Smith (poet), William Smith, ''Chloris'' (1596), 51 sonnets. * Robert Tofte, ''Laura'' (1597), 40 sonnets. * William Alexander of Menstrie (later Earl of Stirling), ''Aurora'' (1604), containing 125 lyrics of which 105 are sonnets. * William Drummond, ''Poems'' (1616), 68 sonnets.

Notable later sequences

During the 19th and 20th centuries, the sonnet sequence returned to favour, although with a greater variety of subject matter. * Elizabeth Barrett Browning's

Sonnets from the Portuguese ''Sonnets from the Portuguese'', written and published first in 1850, is a collection of 44 love sonnets written by Elizabeth Barrett Browning. The collection was acclaimed and popular during the poet's lifetime and it remains so today. Desp ...

(pubd. 1850, 44 sonnets to

Robert Browning Robert Browning (7 May 1812 – 12 December 1889) was an English poet and playwright whose dramatic monologues put him high among the Victorian literature, Victorian poets. He was noted for irony, characterization, dark humour, social commentar ...

) *

Dante Gabriel Rossetti Gabriel Charles Dante Rossetti (12 May 1828 – 9 April 1882), generally known as Dante Gabriel Rossetti ( ; ), was an English poet, illustrator, painter, translator, and member of the Rossetti family. He founded the Pre-Raphaelite Brother ...

's The House of Life (1870, 1881, 101 sonnets) * George Meredith's Modern Love (1862, 50 sixteen-line sonnets) *

Edna St. Vincent Millay Edna St. Vincent Millay (February 22, 1892 – October 19, 1950) was an American lyric poetry, lyrical poet and playwright. Millay was a renowned social figure and noted Feminism, feminist in New York City during the Roaring Twenties and beyond. ...

's ''Sonnets from an Ungrafted Tree'' (1923), seventeen sonnets; the last line of each sonnet a heptameter *

H. P. Lovecraft Howard Phillips Lovecraft (, ; August 20, 1890 – March 15, 1937) was an American writer of Weird fiction, weird, Science fiction, science, fantasy, and horror fiction. He is best known for his creation of the Cthulhu Mythos. Born in Provi ...

's Fungi from Yuggoth (1930) * John Berryman's '' Sonnets to Chris'' (1947, published 1967)his subsequent sequence Dream Songs — 385 eighteen-line poems published between 1964 and 1968 — could also be thought of as conforming to this genre *

Robert Lowell Robert Traill Spence Lowell IV (; March 1, 1917 – September 12, 1977) was an American poet. He was born into a Boston Brahmin family that could trace its origins back to the ''Mayflower''. His family, past and present, were important subjects ...

Notebook A notebook (also known as a notepad, writing pad, drawing pad, or legal pad) is a book or stack of paper pages that are often ruled and used for purposes such as note-taking, journaling or other writing, drawing, or scrapbooking and more. ...

(1969), revised and expanded into the three volumes

History History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Human history, human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some t ...

(1973), For Lizzie and Harriet (1973) and The Dolphin (1973). * Wanda Coleman's American Sonnets (1994) * William Wenthe's

The Mysteries ''The Mysteries'' is a cycle of three medieval English mystery plays first presented at London's National Theatre in 1977 which tell a story of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation. Background It is based largely on the Wakefield cycle of p ...

(pubd. 2004, 11 sonnets) * Ernest Hilbert's Sixty Sonnets (2009) and All of You on the Good Earth (2013) * Terrance Hayes' American Sonnets for My Past and Future Assassin (2018)

Footnotes

External links

Elizabethan sonnet sequences online
* ttp://www.sonnets.org/index.htm Sonnet Central {{DEFAULTSORT:Sonnet Sequence Sonnet sequences Sonnet studies

List of Italian sonnet sequences

List of English sonnet sequences

Notable later sequences

See also

Footnotes

External links