ABSTRACT
The sonnet has a good claim to be one of the oldest and most useful verse forms in English. It is the Italian sonnet which is the legitimate form, for it alone recognizes that peculiar imbalance of parts which is its salient characteristic. Italian theoreticians have been keen to stress the logical basis of the form, that the first quatrain states a proposition and the second proves it, that the first tercet confirms it and the second draws the conclusion. Milton is the first great English poet to recognize and cultivate the Italian form. The pre-Romantic sonneteers took liberties with the Italian octave, using open rhyme or open mixed with closed rhyme. This kind of thing is perhaps indicative of the difficulty inherent in the Italian octave for English poets. Many other Victorian sonneteers approximate to Italian models.
