Explain how Shakespeare's sonnets are different from their Italian predecessors.

There are generally two major kinds
of sonnets. The Italian, also known as the Petrachan, was named for Francesco Petrarca,
who mastered the form in Italy. The Petrarchan
sonnet:

...is
a verse form that typically refers to a concept of unattainable love. It was first
developed by the Italian humanist and writer, Francesco Petrarca. Conventionally
Petrarchan sonnets depict the addressed lady in hyperbolic [exaggerated] terms and
present her as a model of perfection and
inspiration.

The second
sonnet form is the Shakespearean. (Shakespeare did not come up with the form: actually
Sir Thomas Wyatt is usually credited with introducing the sonnet to England—from Italy,
but it is named after Shakespeare perhaps because he wrote so many [beautiful] sonnets:
154 of them.)

The Italian sonnet has some very distinct
similarities to the Shakespearean sonnet (in that it came first, this is no
surprise).

The Italian sonnet has fourteen lines, written
in iambic pentameter, which means that there are ten syllables per line, with stress on
every other syllable. There are two parts to the Italian sonnet form: the octave (made
up of the first eight lines of the sonnet) and the sestet (made up of the last six lines
of the sonnet). Poets will often use the parts of a sonnet to organize their
ideas.

The rhyme scheme is a pattern of end-rhyme that the
poet uses, where the first and third line rhyme on the last word, and the second and
fourth line rhyme on the last word, and so forth. Whereas the Shakespearean sonnet has
only one rhyme scheme, the Italian sonnet has several options. The rhyme scheme for the
first eight lines (the octave) is generally consistent: abba
abba. However, for the last six lines, there are a variety of
choices...

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including:   c d d c d d,      c d
e c d e,      c d d e c e,  c d c d c d,    c d d c e e,    c d c d e e,    c d d c c
d

The word
"sonnet" comes from the Italian word, "sonnetto," which means "little
song."

The Shakespearean sonnet is also known as the
Elizabethan sonnet. It also has fourteen lines and is written in
iambic pentameter. However, its sections are different. The first twelve lines consist
of three quatrains—a quatrain is a four-line stanza. The last two lines are called the
rhyming couplet: this is a pair of lines that rhyme.

The
rhyme scheme of the Shakespearean sonnet
is:

abab  cdcd
 efef
 gg

Shakespeare
often used the "segments" (or parts) of this form to organize his ideas. For example, in
Sonnet 29, Shakespeare spends the first eight lines (two quatrains) talking about how
awful his life is. The first word of the ninth line is "yet," which is a pivotal word,
where the entire tone of the poem changes—at this point, the author
remembers the woman he loves (to whom he is writing the sonnet), and when he thinks of
how wonderful she is and remembers how glorious she makes him feel, he announces (in the
rhyming couplet, that serves as a conclusion) that he would not change places with kings
because his life is so extraordinary with her.

(There is
also one minor sonnet form named for Edmund Spenser, who wrote "The
Faerie Queene," dedicated to Queen Elizabeth I. It was invented by Spenser for the above
noted epic poem, and follows very different structural
guides.)

Shakespeare's sonnets are quite famous, but he is
certainly not the only poet to use this sonnet form. The topic of most Shakespearean
(Elizabethan) sonnets is "love."