3 types of sonnets - need help!

[Pete_1984]

Hello!

I am a student of English Studies at the Unversity of Zielona Gora in Poland and the subject which I have had problems lately is English literature. I've failed it a couple of times and have my last chance. Never thought that I could have problems passing one of my favorite subjects lol.

Anyway there's this one question that's been haunting me and I just can't find any decent answer to it so I'm hoping that someone from here might just help me out.

"Describe the features of the Italian, English and Metaphysical sonnets."

I don't want to suggest what I know and do not counting on someone to enlighten me in a succinct way on the topic.

Thanks in advance for all the help :)

[quasimodo1]

To Pete 1984: Since you live in Poland (I have Polish-Lithuanian descent) and might know some Italian, let me just supply a search engine which will probably lead you to an understanding of this subject. It is.....http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rls=DBUS,DBUS:2006-10,DBUS:en&q=google+scholar.... Hope you find this satisfactory. quasimodo1

[Niamh]

here are definitions of those types of sonnets (http://www.reference.com/search?q=sonnets).
why not choose an example of each of the sonnets and compare and contrast them?

[Pete_1984]

I tried Google Scholar but could find the info needed... maybe I'm not good and "googling" things out :)

but the site was quite helpfull and I hope I'll pass the exam tomorrow :)

Thank You for Your help :>

[JBI]

An Italian has a concept (a question more like) proposed in the first 8 lines, then resloved in the final 6 lines (which are known as a volta).

The English sonnet is devided into 3 sets of 4 lines, then one couplet as a volta (I assume by English you mean Shakespearian though many English sonneteers worked with Italian structures, or metaphysical structures). The structure is supposed to propose an idea, give 3 real points, then sum it all up and give the true answer in the form of a couplet. The best examples of this I can give you are Shakespeare's sonnets.

A metaphysical sonnet deals with a metaphysical question, and is meant to leave the reader thinking, rather than feeling. The best example of this would be John Donne's holy sonnets, displaying metaphysical questions about death, god, love, and other important things. The goal of the sonnet is to try and make the reader think about the idea, and to come to a metaphysical conclusion.