The sonnet form was innovated by petrarc(1304-74),an italian poet. Later in the Elizabethan period,wyatt,earl of surrey,spenser,shakespeare and many other english poets experimented with the form and content of the sonnet established by petrarch.However,Shakespeare used some of the petrarchan elements but he deviated from petrarchan tradition in several ways.
A petrarchan sonnet is a short poem of fourteen lines.so is shakespeare sonnet. Lyricism is another glaring feature of petrarchan sonnets. It is also striking feature in shakespeare's sonnets. Lyricism is brought in a poem by using music and personal emotion.In shakespeare sonnet 18 ,for example, there is abundant of music and personal emotion. Rhythm, rhyme,and alliterative words have created the music in it, and the emotion expressed in it is the experience of the speaker.Moreover,in a petrarchan sonnet a male lover addresses a female beloved almost in the form of worshipping . Similarly,in sonnet 18 ,the praise of the lover tends to be worshipping though the lovers are both males.
However, shakespearean sonnets differ from petrarchan sonnets at several points.Each of the fourteen lines of shakespeare;s sonnet 18 consists of ten syllables.But each of the fourteen lines of a petrarchan sonnet is hendecasyllabic( eleven syllabic). In a petrarchan sonnet,,the subjects is introduced in the first eight lines,A shakespearean sonnet consists of three quartains and a cuplet. the rhyme scheme of a petrarchan sonnet is abbba abba cde cde cde . while the rhyme scheme of a shakespearean sonnet is abab cd cd ef ef gg .
