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January 2004 HISTORICAL EVOLUTION OF THE SONNET 2. TRANSLATION: Part 2B
This is a reprint of Section 2A, Chapter 12 of
Vallance Review 30, February 2004, will continue with Section 2B
While the Rinascimento flourished in Italy throughout the Fourteenth Century, when Petrarch published his Rime Sparse or Scattered Rhymes, and the Fifteenth Century, its tentacles were not to spread to the rest of Europe until at least the latter half of the Fifteenth and the outset of the Sixteenth Centuries. But when the spirit of the Renaissance finally did spread abroad, it did so at almost lightning speed, rapidly extending its influence to Spain, Portugal, France and England, where the poets of the new age enthusiastically embraced the tenets of renewed Classicism, of humanism and of courtly love as expressed through the allegories and imagery of their poetry, originally espoused by none other than Francesco Petrarch himself. In Portugal, the brilliant sonneteer Luis de Camões (1524 or 1525-1580) penned his exquisite sonnets, cast in the tradition of Petrarch [1], while Spain’s Golden Age sonneteers struggled valiantly against the harsh regime of the Spanish Inquisition in their efforts to crown Spanish literature with the eloquence of Renaissance poetry. Amongst the Golden Age Spanish sonneteers we may count Garcilaso de la Vega (1503-1536), Baltazar de Alcázar (1530-1606), Francsico de Aldana (1532-1578), Miguel de Cervantes (1547-1616), and of course, Lope de Vega (1552-1635), whose many sonnets ring so true to the spirit of his forbear, Francesco Petrarch [2]. One single stanza, the first quatrain, of just one of Lope de Vega’s sonnets suffices to illustrate the polished style of this great sonneteer:
No queda más lustroso y cristalino ******************************************
( © translated by Aodhagán O'Broin , Dublin, Ireland) The icy stream is not on mountain high It is immediately obvious, even upon a first cursory reading of this sonnet, that Lope de Vega is clearly inspired by Francesco Petrarch, and indeed, we may even go so far as to assert that this sonnet in particular is reminiscent of Petrarch’s Canzoniere - Sonetto 190, “Una candida cerva sopra l'erba”, which we have cited in the first part of this essay, 1. Versification 1.2. Translation or Transliteration?
While it is undeniable that the early Portuguese, Spanish, French and English sonneteers all owed a powerful debt of gratitude to their Italian forbears, and above all, to the great Francesco Petrarch, whose Canzoniere served as the model for their sonnets, we should not simply assume that these poets merely translated Petrarch’s sonnets into their own languages. That would be a gross oversimplification of the case. Socio-cultural, as well as strictly linguistic, dictates were to make such direct translation impossible. Why, even the name of the belovèd would have had to be altered, to fit the rhythmic demands of each new target language, in which sonnets were written. But, the problems raised by translation, or more, accurately, transliteration of the original Italian body of sonnet literature went far deeper than that. Here are just some of the difficulties poets in other European nations had to face.
The fundamental need to adapt the sonnet’s rhythmic structure, hence, its metrics, to the linguistic norms of the language(s) in which it was written is core to our discussion of the continuing evolution of the sonnet, so much so in fact that it would be premature, to say the very least, to assert that the sonnet, per se, finds its “best” metric expression either in the iambic pentameter, if we happen to refer to the English sonnet, or to the Alexandrine, if we have recourse to the French sonnet, or to any other metre well suited to the linguistic dictates of the target language in which it is couched. It may be safely assumed, even at this juncture in our discussion of the evolution of the sonnet, that the best or most suitable rhythmic structure, in other words, the most viable metric structure for any sonnet, regardless of the language in which it is composed, is found to be whatever rhythmic or metric structure sounds the most melodious or harmonious, in a word, the most musical. For this reason and this reason alone, confining the sonnet to the strictures of any one rhythm in particular, based on the language in which it is composed, merely defeats the innate melody of the sonnet, which is, after all, supposed to be akin to a “little song”. To summarize, the best metric structure for any sonnet, regardless of its target language, and regardless of its particular form, whether Petrarchan, Ronsardian, Spenserian, Shakespearian, “sprung-rhythm” after Gerard Manley Hopkin’s style, or what have you, is that which sounds the most melodious to the ear of the listener, to whom the sonnet is - and I emphasize this point - appropriately recited aloud. 2. Rhyme: Early in the Renaissance, poets and sonneteers from European nations outside Italy quickly recognized how very difficult it was to mimic with any degree of accuracy the free-flowing vowel-ending rhymes of the original Italianate sonnets in languages where words did not always end in vowels, but more frequently in consonants, such as Portuguese, Spanish and French, and realized it was next to impossible to accomplish such a feat in a language like English, which was predominantly consonant-ending. 3. Paradigmatic Shifts in the Sonnet’s Structure: Even the dictates of metrics and rhyme alone would require a fundamental shift in the very structure of the sonnet itself, which we will address in the next Section of this essay, 3. Stylistics. 4. Socio-cultural and Political Pressures: As I have already mentioned in passing, cultural and political pressures were to have a profound impact on the mode of expression sonneteers were able to espouse in their respective nations. Obviously, the sonneteers of Spain and of Portugal were under political and religious constraints, imposed by the Inquisition, which their French and English counterparts were less bound by. On the other hand, the sudden explosion of Protestantism and the founding of the Church of England would leave an indelible stamp on the poetry of the English sonneteers, most notably, John Donne (1572-1631), in whose poetry the inherent struggle between Catholicism and Protestantism found personal and intimate expression. We need to keep these considerations in mind, along with others, which will arise in the course of our discussion, as they will prove indispensable to any true understanding of the mechanics or, more appropriately, the ethos of the sonnet.
2.1 FRANCE
However, it was in France that the Renaissance was to come into full bloom and to flourish such as never before in history, even in Italy. In fact, the very word, “renaissance” is French, and means, quite simply, “rebirth”. 2.1.1 La Pléiade: 
Early in the Sixteenth Century, several prominent French poets formally banded together to inaugurate the Renaissance’s first full-fledged école littéraire or literary school of poetry and literature, which has since gone down in history as the illustrious, la Pléiade, appropriately named after the the Pleiad(e)s, the seven daughters of Atlas and Pleione, half-sisters of the Hyades, whose mother was Æthra (Greek for “Bright Sky”), and perhaps even half-sisters of the Hesperides, daughters of the Night, or Atlas and Hesperis (`evening'). In another vein of mythology, the Pleiades were nymphs in the band of Artemis, goddess of the hunt, along with the seven Hyades or “rainmakers” [3]. 
Alternatively, the name la Pléiade was attributed by Pierre de Ronsard himself to The Pleiades star cluster, also known as the Seven Sisters or Messier 45, a conspicuous object in the night sky, containing thousands of stars in the constellation, Taurus, some 130 parsecs or 425 light years away from Earth [4]. It is likely the founders of la Pléiade were inspired by both the mythological and the astronomical names, inasmuch as the science of astronomy was then on the ascendant. That la Pléiade should have chosen so illustrious a name in the first place is evidence of the lofty prominence to which French literature and poetry of the early to mid-Sixteenth Century so successfully aspired. In fact, there is perhaps no other period, aside from the Age of Romanticism, either in France or in the United Kingdom, where the national literature and poetry reached such a pinnacle of greatness as they did in the Renaissance. The Founders of la Pléiade: The French writers who founded the “Brigade et La Pléiade” (1550-1575) were none other than Jacques Peletier du Mans (1517-1582), who was the first to translate the Ars Poetica of Horace into French, Pierre de Ronsard (1524-1585), « le Prince des poètes, et le poète des Princes » = “The Prince of Poets and the poet of Princes”, and Ronsard's close friend, Joachim du Bellay (1522-1560). In a letter addressed to his readers, dated 1564, Pierre de Ronsard explicitly states, « Il me souvient d'avoir autre-fois accomparé sept poëtes de mon temps à la splendeur de sept estoilles de la Pleiade. » [5], or as we would have it in English, “I recall once having compared seven poets of our Age to the splendour of the seven stars of the Pleaides.” In our discussion, we shall focus primarily on the poetry of the two most renowned poets of la Pléiade, Joachim du Bellay and Pierre de Ronsard, as they were to set the trend for the course of French lyric poetry throughout the remainder of the Sixteenth Century, and have both exerted a strong influence on French poetry, and especially the sonnet in French, to this very day. 2.1.2 Joachim du Bellay (1522 -1560):
Along with Joachim du Bellay and Pierre de Ronsard, there were other prominent poets in la Pléiade, whose sonnets were strongly influenced by those of Francesco Petrarch. Of these, perhaps the one sonneteer, who most closely adhered to the model of the Petrarchan sonnet, not only in form and style, but in content as well, was one Étienne de la Boétie (1530-1563). I will cite just a few examples of his sonnets clearly based on Petrarch’s Canzoniere. These are: sonnets IV, VI and VII (pp. 680 & 681) and from his “six sonnets”, sonnet V (pg. 691) [B47] However, as we read the sonnets of Joachim du Bellay, we soon discover that he is more likely to depart from the Petrarchan model than to strictly adhere to it. Du Bellay not only adapts the Petrarchan sonnet form to the exigencies of the French languages, he also alters the style somewhat, and changes the metrical structure to adapt to French, by having recourse to the twelve syllable Alexandrine. Finally, his sonnets are thematically more reflective of the culture and society of the Sixteenth Century French Court than they could possibly be of the more remote early Italian Rinascimento of the Fourteenth Century. Du Bellay’s unique and vivid style, and above all, his imagery, ring true to the clarity and fluid expressiveness native to French lyricism, a music which is not mimicked by the structured lyrical poetry, the sonnet included, of any other European language of the High Renaissance. This is not to say, of course, that Italian, Spanish, Portuguese or English sonneteers of the High Renaissance had not come to discover the measure of lyricism best suited to their own respective languages. They had. But it was merely different. To summarize, Joachim du Bellay had clearly outgrown the Petrarchan sonnet, as devised by Petrarch himself, however brilliant and perfected that model may have been. He, like his genial poet friend, Pierre de Ronsard, had mastered the art of the sonnet relative to the demands of French lyricism, and had firmly established the Alexandrine sonnet in the repertoire of French poetry, for once and all time. Even when latter-day poets, such as Gérard de Nerval (1808-1855) and Arthur Rimbaud (1854-1891), of the Nineteenth Century or Émile Nelligan (1879-1941, Canada) and Paul Valéry (1871-1945) of the Early Twentieth, departed from the strict Alexandrine model, their versification, their style and even, to a certain extant, their thematic material, was to continue to reflect the clairvoyant idealism so characteristic of La Pléiade, and of French poetic lyricism in general. Even where poets, such as Arthur Rimbaud, consciously rebelled against their poetic forbears, their own brand of lyricism, however unique or independent, could not really escape the indelible mark of Classical French poetic style so firmly established by the pervasive influence of La Pléaide. There is, in effect, a certain melodious harmony innate to French lyrical poetry, which defies definition, but which exalts it to an almost aetherial level only the French language can effect. I would refer you to the English transliteration, “The Olive, Sonnet LXXXIII” I myself have composed in Chapter 11 of this book of Joachim du Bellay’s vermilion sonnet, « L’Olive » ( sonnete LXXXIII ). Other significant sonnets by du Bellay indicative of his lyrical genius are: from his, « XII Sonnetz de l’honneste Amour » :
This particular sonnet is highly reminiscent of Petrarch.
The Classical allegory and the imagery of this sonnet are very powerful. Or yet again, you may wish to peruse his polished, Classically inspired sonnets in, « Les Antiquitez de Rome », which are based on Petrarch’s equally profound admiration for the ancients, and for the munificence of Latin civilization in particular. Yet, clearly, it is in his own voice that Du Bellay extols Rome and her grandeur, bringing it vividly back to life in the breath of fresh air that is Neo-Classicism, the spirit of the Age of the High Renaissance then sweeping like wild-fire across France and England alike. This collection of sonnets is most inspired, but I will cite two sonnets in particular, which you may wish to consult:
It is obvious from these two sonnets alone, amongst all the other inspired poems which comprise this collection, that Joachim du Bellay’s inspiration was at once vigorous and impassioned, as he was fired by a love of Antiquity that even Francesco Petrarch could not have imagined. Whereas the latter poet had ignited the spark of the Renaissance fascination with Antiquity, it was left to Joachim de Bellay, Pierre de Ronsard, and the other standard-bearers of la Pléiade to set it fully aflame in the neo-Classical literature of Sixteenth Century France. 2.1.3 Pierre de Ronsard (1521-1585):
Suffice it to say that, where Joachim du Bellay left an indelible and lasting mark on French poetry and more notably, on the deployment of the sonnet as a genre in French literature for the duration of the Sixteenth Century and for Centuries to come, even to the present day, Pierre de Ronsard has been extolled, and rightly so, as « le Prince des poètes et le poète des Princes » or “The Prince of Poets and the Poet of Princes”, nothing short of that. Like his forbear, Francesco Petrarch, some two Centuries previously, he was crowned by the then King of France as Poet Laureate of all France. And he surely deserves the name. Some critics, including myself, would even go so far as to proclaim this extremely brilliant and gifted poet as not only the greatest French poet who ever lived, but indeed the greatest sonneteer in all history. In this perspective I do indeed include such other greats as Francesco Petrarch and William Shakespeare themselves, whose genius is manifestly on a par with that of Ronsard’s, at least in certain respects. However, Pierre de Ronsard single-handedly accomplished what no other sonneteer has managed, throughout the centuries long history of this exalted poetry genre. Pierre de Ronsard not only left his own indelible, exquisitely lyrical and impassioned stamp on the literature of the sonnet, he composed more sonnets, and indeed, more qualitatively brilliant sonnets than perhaps any other poet we know of. Just how many sonnets did Ronsard compose? - the number is nothing short of staggering! In his, Le Premier Livre des Amours : Amours de Cassandre there are no less than 128 sonnets, while in Le Second Livre des Amours : Amours de Marie, we find no less than 68 sonnets in the first part, 13 in the second part, « Sur la mort de Marie »; and again, in his Sonnets et Madrigals pour Astrée, another 16; in his Sonnets pour Hélène, 64 in the first book, 77 in the second book; in Les Amours diverses 24 more; in Sonnets à diverses Personnes, 51 sonnets; and in his Gayetez, 1 sonnet, for a grand total of at least 390 sonnets, almost all of them of superior quality! That leaves William Shakespeare in the dust. The only other sonneteer in history to have composed so many lovely sonnets was none other than Francesco Petrarch himself. In addition, many of Ronsard’s sonnets, like those of Petrarch, were to be set to great music by many composers. We shall return to this question in the last Section of this essay: The Music of the Spheres. Ronsard’s inimitable style and his disciplined, yet eloquent grasp of both the modified French Petrarchan sonnet in the Alexandrine, and of its thematic expression, were second to none. And, while he demonstrably did not invent any new sonnet form per se, unlike Edmund Spenser (ca. 1552-1599), who abandoned the Petrarchan sonnet and adopted his own version of the sonnet form, which we now call “the Spenserian Sonnet” or William Shakespeare (1564-1616), who devised “the Shakespearian Sonnet” (a variant on the Spenserian), Ronsard’s mastery of the Italianate sonnet, as adapted to the requirements of French versification, stylistics, imagery and thematics, was of the highest order. In other words, scarcely any other sonneteer in history, other than Francesco Petrarch himself, could claim such mastery of form, style and content as did the Prince of Poets. And, we must also keep firmly in mind that the English sonneteers, Spenser and Shakespeare, were practically obligated to abandon the Petrarchan sonnet, as it was so ill-suited to the natural semi-iambic rhythms of English, which is a stressed language, and even less suited to the demands of largely consonantal rhyme in English, requiring a greater variance in rhyme schematics than was needed in any of the Romance languages, viz; Italian, Spanish, Portuguese and French. In the end, it all came down to one fundamental principle: why bother inventing a new sonnet form, when the one that was currently in use functioned just fine? Such invention was simply irrelevant. That was the case for the sonnet literature of all the Romance languages; it was not so for English. We shall return to this crucial, core question in the next Section of this essay: 3. Stylistics. In the meantime, I will leave you with the English transliterations of two of Pierre de Ronsard’s exquisite gems of sonnetry, which you will find in Chapter 11 of this book, namely;
and Laisse de Pharaon la terre Égyptienne, (Leave to Nefertiti Egyptian fiefs,) And I would also refer you to the following sonnets by Ronsard as examples, which are of the highest order and artistic polish:
LXVI Ciel, air et vents, plains et monts découverts (Oh sky, air and winds, and mountains I espy) [B53, pg. 29] This sonnet is truly one of Ronsard’s finest masterpieces!
CLXXVI Ny les desdains d’une Nymphe si belle (Neither the disdainful looks of a Nymph as lovely), [B53, pg. 76] In this sonnet, the first 11 verses (i.e. the first two quatrains and the first tercet) all begin with the word, “Ny” = “neither/nor”. The sonnet is a real tour de force. And, from Les Amours de Marie we may take, as examples of Ronsard’s exquisite lyricism:
This sonnet is a bitter denunciation of his belovèd’s disdain for his love.
(If a lover, somewhere, should pass through Bougueil on his way to Anjou) [B53, pg. 139] This sonnet represents perhaps the quintessence of the Renaissance French sonnet style. Finally, it is to be noted that Ronsard, like his close friend and poet ally, Joachim du Bellay, was never a slavish imitator of Petrach, however lofty a craftsman the latter surely was. Du Bellay, and especially Ronsard are to be regarded as paragons of poets, whose mastery of the sonnet genre was and to this day remains, of the highest order.
REFERENCES & NOTES:
[1] Sonnet Board: Luis de Camões |
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a été publié le numéro actuel de :
SONNETTO POESIA ISSN 1705-4524 a été publié. Cliquer ici pour lire le numéro actuel : http://sonnettopoesiavol3n12004.homestead.com/index.html 25 poètes en provenance de 8 pays y ont collaboré : du Canada, de 'Australie, de l'Inde, de l'Italie, de la France, du Népal, du Royame-Uni et des États-Unis. Vous y lirez des sonnets, des villanelles et des quatrains en anglais, en français et en italien. Mais il y a plus ! Dans le numéro de l'hiver 2003-2004 de SONNETTO POESIA, il y a une performance enregistrée en public du Messie de Georg Frideric Haendel, jouée par le M.I.T. Handel Chorus de Boston, Mass., en décembre 2002. Cliquer sur le logo illustrant des instruments musicaux à la première page pour écouter cet enregistrement en stéréo haute-définition. C'est une expérience audio à ne pas manquer ! Cliquer sur le lien suivant pour écouter la musique : http://hebb.mit.edu/FreeMusic/MIT_Music/Handel/Messiah/ Veuillez remarquer que le nouveau hymne choral, "Brighter Orbs on High" de Peter Zanette, n'est pas encore achevé, mais qu'il sera disponible d'ici quelques jours près. Nous vous prions de nous excuser pour tout désagrément éventuel.
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SONNETTO POESIA ISSN 1705-4524 Vol. 3, no. 1, Winter 2003-2004 has been published! Click here to read the current issue: http://sonnettopoesiavol3n12004.homestead.com/index.html 25 poets from 8 nations: Canada, Australia, India, Italy, France, Nepal, the United Kingdom and the United States, are featured. There are sonnets, quatrains and villanelles in English, French and Italian from the nations represented. Even more exciting is this! The Winter 2003-2004 issue of SONNETTO POESIA features a READER SELECTABLE high fidelity stereo Real Player and Windows Media Player public domain (i.e. free, non-copyrighted) high definition STEREO LIVE performance by the M.I.T. Concert Choir, Boston, Mass., in 2002 of the entire "Messiah" by George Friderick Handel! If you click on the on the icon illustrating musical instruments on the cover page, a link will open to the page where the "Messiah" can be played while you read SONNETTO POESIA. This will be an experience you will not want to miss! Click here to open the current issue: http://hebb.mit.edu/FreeMusic/MIT_Music/Handel/Messiah/ Also please note that, while the Canadian composer, Peter Zanette''s, all-new Choral Anthem, "Brighter Orbs on High" is not yet available for your listening pleasure, it will be put online in the poetry journal within the next few days. We apologize for the inconvenience.
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