1. What is a sonnet?

Make a comparative study between Sonnet 1 by Philip Sidney:

"Loving in Truth and Fain in Verse My Love to Show" and Sonnet 20 by William
Shakespeare: "A Woman's Face With Nature's Own Hand Painted".

Sonnet: A sonnet is a one-stanza, fourteen-line poem, which is written in iambic pentameter.

Sonnets normally use a meter of iambic pentameter, a poetic meter consisting of ten beats per
line that are made up of alternating unstressed and stressed syllables and follow a set rhyme
scheme. A big variation in rhyme scheme and metrical pattern can be found as different types of
sonnets involve poets of different languages writing them. Despite the rhyme scheme variations,
all sonnets have a thematic structure of two parts, which contains a problem and solution,
question and answer, or proposition and reinterpretation within the fourteen-line sonnet. There
is a volta, or turn, between the two parts. The first presents the theme that raises an issue or
doubt, and the second part answers the question, resolves the problem.

The Italian sonnet, which is also known as a Petrarchan sonnet, and the English sonnet, which
is commonly known as a Shakespearean sonnet, are the two most popular sonnet varieties in
literature. Perfected by the Italian poet Petrarch, the fourteen lines of the Petrarchan sonnet is
divided into two parts, an eight-line stanza or octave, with a rhyming pattern of ABBAABBA,
and a six-line stanza or sestet, with a rhyming pattern of CDCDCD or CDECDE. On the other
hand, a Shakespearean has fourteen lines, consisting of three groups of four lines each,
followed by a single rhyming couplet. The rhyme scheme is ABAB CDCD EFEF GG.

A comparative study between Sonnet 1 by Philip Sidney: "Loving in Truth and Fain in
Verse My Love to Show" and Sonnet 20 by William Shakespeare: "A Woman's Face With
Nature's Own Hand Painted":

"Loving in Truth and Fain in Verse My Love to Show" by Sir Phillip Sidney is a Petrarchan
sonnet. The central theme of the sonnet is love, which is a characteristic feature of the
Petrarchan sonnet. This fourteen-line sonnet is divided into two parts. The First 8 lines are
called octaves, which are typically known for rising questions. From the thematic aspect of this
love sonnet, the octave describes the deep love for the lady and shows the speaker's effort to
entertain the lady by writing verse. Then the poem takes a turn in the next 6 lines of the sonnet,
which is known as sestet. The sestet is known for answering the questions or problems that
were raised in the octave. After the failure to write an excellent poem the speaker here realizes
that the true poetic Inspiration or genuine words can come only from the heart of someone for
the deep love for someone, and that's the mother of poetry. This sonnet is written in iambic
hexameter instead of iambic pentameter. The rhyming pattern of this sonnet is ABAB ABAB
CDCD EE.
On the other hand, Sonnet 20 by William Shakespeare: "A Woman's Face With Nature's Own
Hand Painted" is a Shakespearean sonnet. Like the first one, it is also a fourteen-line sonnet,
but instead of having octaves and sestets, Shakespearean sonnets are divided into four parts,
three quatrains, each consisting of four lines, and a two-line couplet. The three quatrains of the
sonnet give an exposition of ideas and the couplet resolves it. The first two quatrains are all
about the appreciation of the beloved's beauty. The speaker here indicates that the fair youth
attracts both men and women. At the beginning of the third quatrain when the speaker says
nature first started creating the fair youth as a woman, but at the end, bestowed him with male
genitalia. The couplet turns the poem a bit further still, which is a common characteristic of a
Shakespearean sonnet. Here, defying nature, the speaker is pleased to have love and
friendship with the fair youth, not physically but emotionally. This sonnet is written in iambic
pentameter and the rhyming pattern of the sonnet is ABAB CDCD EFEF GG.