MILTON'S SONNETS: THEIR DEBTS AND INFLUENCES BY RALPH EARLE fIEJE A. B. University of Illinois, 1910 THESIS mitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of MASTER OF ARTS IN ENGLISH IN THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 1912 ! v.- UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS THE GRADUATE SCHOOL mj 25, 19«2 I HEREBY RECOMMEND THAT THE THESIS PREPARED UNDER MY SUPERVISION BY Ralph Earle Tieje Sonnets: Their Debts and Influences ENTITLED ..alton's BE ACCEPTED AS FULFILLING THIS PART OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF piaster of Arts in English - In Charge of Major Work —T Head of Department Recommendation concurred in: Committee on Final Examination Table op contents. Page Bibliography. 1 Chapter I Milton's Sonnets. Chapter II The Sonnet in England before Milton ....24 Chapter III The Sonnet after Milton and before Wordsworth 49 Chapter IV The Sonnet in the Nineteenth Century 75 Addendum a. Brummond's Rime Schemes I B. Brydges's " " VI C. Bowles's " " VI1 UIUC • BIBLIOGRAPHY Criticism . Hunt, Lei»h, and Lee, A. S. Book of the Sonnet 2 v., London, 1867. Lee, Sidney Elizabethan Sonnet b , Introduction v. 1. Westminster, 1904. Lee, Sidney, Cambridge History of English Literature , v. 3. ohp. XII, Cambridge, 1909, Leutzner, Karl, Uber das Sonet und seine Postaltung in der Englisohen DTchtung bis Milton. leipzig. 1886. Hiohol, J., Ward's English Poets . Introduction to Dunbar, v. 1, Hew York, 1908. Noble, James Ashoroft , The Sonnet in England . London, 1896. Phelps, William Lyon, The beginnings of the English romantic movement ; a study in eighteenth century literature. Boston, 1893. Anthologies . Lee, Sidney, Elizabethan Sonnets , 2 vols., Westminster, 1904. Quiller - Couch, A. T., Oxford Book of EngliBh Verse , Oxford, 1907. Sharp, William, Sonnets of the Nineteenth Century . London, 1886* Waddington, Samuel, English Sonnets by Poets of the Past . London , 1882. Waddington, Samuel, English Sonnets by Living Writers . London, 1888. Poems . Arnold, Matthew, Poems . 2 vols., London, 1854. Austin, Alfred, English Lyrics . London, 1891. Lady Anne, Countess of Winchelsea, Poems . Myra Reynolds, Editor, Chiocigp, 1903. Bowles, William Lisle, Sonnets and Other Poems , Fourth Edition, Bath, 1796. Browne, William (of Tavistock), Poems . 2 vols., G. Godwin, Editor, London. Browning, Mrs. Elisabeth Barret, Poetioal Works . Boston, 1900. Browning, Robert, Poetioal and Dramatio Works . Boston, 1895, Brydges, Samuel Egerton, Sonnets and Other Poems , London, 1795. Byron, Lord (George Gordon Noel), Poetioal Works., London, 1907. Burns, Robert, Complete Poems . Boston, 1897. Coleridge, Samuel Taylor, Poetical Works, London, 1905. Drummond, Willian (of Hawthorken) , Poems, 2 vols., W. C. Ward, Editor, London. Gasooigne, George, Complete Poems . VT. C. Hazlitt, Editor, Printed for Roxburghe Library, 1869. Goldsmith, Oliver, Poetical Works A. Dobson, Editor, London, 1905. Herbert, George, The Temple . New York. Herriok, Robert, Hesperldes and Nobl e Numbers . 2 vols. A Pollard, Editor, London. Keats, John, Complete Poetioal Works and Letters . Boston, 1899. Mason, William, Poems . Dublin, 1764. Milton, John, Complete Poems . Boston, 1899. Milton, John, Complete ^cems Masaon, Editor. 5 vols, London,l893 Milton, John, Sonnets . Mark Pattison, Editor, London, 1892. Petrarca, Franoesoa, Le Rime . Firenze, 1896. Petraroh, Franoesca, Sonnets . Triumphs . and Other Poems . translated into English Verse , London, 1901. Shakespeare, William, C omplete Works . Boston, 1895. Rossetti, Dante Gabriel, Complete Poems . Boston, 1907. Shelley, Percy Byssche, Complet e Poems . Boston, 1899. Southey, Robert, Poetioal Works, 5 vols. Boston, 1878. Spenser, Edmund, Complete Works . New York, 1903. Suokling, Sir John, Worke in Prose and Verse . a. H. Thompson, Editor, london, 1910. Tennyson, Alfred (Lord), Poetical Works . Boston, 1898. Vaughn, Henry, Poena . E. K. Chambers, Editor, London. Viereok, George Sylvester, Nineveh and Other Poena . New York, 1907. Wart on, Thonas, Poetical Works . Fifth Edition, Riohard Mant, Editor, Oxford, 1802, Watson, Willian, Poems , New York, 1905, Wordsworth, William, Shorter Poems , Everyman Edition, Hew York, Wyatt (and Surrey) , Poetioal Works . Boston, Riverside Edition. Misoellaneous Lodge, Thomas, Rosalynfle , Professor E. G. Baldwin, Editor, Boston, 1910. Radoliffe, Mrs. Anne, Romance of the Forest , London, 1904. Saint sbury, George, Short History of English Literature , London, 1907. Monthly Review , 1785, page 306, Article 34. Living Age , 93:771. Blaokwood's 39:956 Cowper, William, Poetioal Works, £ vols. Edinburgh, 1864. NOTE: Only books or articles examined and used are given in this bibliography. Chapter I. MILTOM'S 30TOTS. Upon the nention of Ililton we naturally think lost we nay have read of his great epic, Paradis e , although the ninor poens, and know sone of the sonnets at least by repute. Yet while the epics and the ninor poens have un- doubtedly had a great influence upon the literature which followed then, especially on that of the romantic revival in the eighteenth century, the sonnets, too, have been initated, copied, and adopted, if not as obviously, yet quite as widely. Our debt to then, however, has been commonly ignored perhaps because the sonnets of the eighteenth century were neither great in quantity, nor commendable in quality, and because those of the following period were overshadowed by other poetic forms. But such an influence does exist. Likewise, Milton's sonnets, even though they nay seen to the occasional reader to be distinct fron those of the writers who preceded hin, owe debts which at once become apparent when we study the sonnet in England before Milton. Before the nature of these relationships can be understood, however, it will be necessary to analyse Milton's rine schenes, organization, and subject natter; but even before this can be done, sone definition of the sonnet must be fomulated. Yet it must be remenbered that no all inclusive definition can be nade, for that one which says n a sonnet is a conplete poen of fourteen lines", is _ © _ at least but a poor makeshift* furthermore, we have two recognised sonnet forns in English - the Italian ( some- times called the Petrarchan) , and the Shakespearean. The anfl - B latter is rimed a b a b o d o_ d_ g, f e f £ £» * as the arrangement indicates, divided into three >-uatrains and a couplet. Each of these quatrains is supposed to present a new phase of the thought, or a new parallel, or metaphor which shall develop the idea of the poem, while the couplet is supposed to contain the conclusion or the application of the idea. This conclusion nay, however, he expanded to in- clude not only the couplet hut the last six lines. The Italian sonnet , on the other hand is regularly divided into an octave - and a sestet. The octave, or the first eight lines, presents and develops the thought or idea of the lyric; the sestet, or the remaining six lines, applies it to the particular case in hand. The rime scheme, too, is markedly different from that of the Shakespearean; for in the Italian form the cjuatrains of the octave are linked to- gether -abba abba- while the sestet may employ any combination of o_ and d, or of e_, d, and e, provided that the thirteenth and fourteenth lines do not rime. These fcrms are, it must be remembered only types, *ind have many variations which will be discussed in their proper places. But while it is evident that the definition of a Shakespearean sonnet is sufficiently exact, it is also clear that the definition of the Italian needs further ampli- fication, .aid to avoid a long and confusing discussion, it will, perhaps, be well merely to quote the rules which common practice and consent have created. 1 Rules for form." a) • Fourteen lines. b) . Pentameter lines. 0) . There must be rime. systems - an octave and d) . The sonnet contains two rime a sestet - the first being composed of two quatrains, the second of two tercets. abhaabb.a. e) . The octave must rime as follows, two or three rimes. f ) . The tercets may contain be upon the same g) . The rimes of the tercets must not vowel assonances or consonant combinations as those of v the octet. in such a h) . The rimes in the sestet must not be placed manner as to produce in any way the order of rimes in rA 1 / the octave. Italian, are to be 1) . Double rimes, which are favored in avoided in English, because the recurring line beats retard the flow of feeling enough, j). The sonnet must not end in a couplet, for such an end- ing interrupts the continuity of thought. In- 1. These rules a-e taken directly from Mr. Mark Pattison's troduction to his Volume of Milton's Sonnets. They are and a also cited by Hunt in his Book of the Sonnet ; w>-ite-^ in the Living a/*e. 93:771, quotes a similar set from Franoesea Saverio Ouadrio, an Italian Jesuit and litterateur, 1695-1796. 2. See Shakespeare, Sonnet 55. in this arrangement we 3 Foy example o d o c d c. because order aa abba hIre a aSatrSin | o o d! which is the same ir the octave. Rule s ^nr mater ial. a) • sonnet must express only one feeling. b) . The first -uatrain shall present the idea, the second shall place the reader in fall possession of it. 0) . There should he a paU8e f as of one meditating, after the seoond quatrain* d) . The first teroet should turn hank on the thought of the octave. e) . The second tercet should he a conclusion, summing up the thought of the whole. f ) . The sonnet should gi^e the idea of finish in its con- clusion, hut not an air of epigram, for in the opigrara the conclusion is everything, while in the sonnet the emphasis is equally distributed, except for a slight hulge at the middle. g) . The contracted space of the sonnet forbids the repeti- tion of important words, except where a peculiar emphasis is desired to he gained by it.