Explore the Craft of Writing Poetry The Sonnet Sonnet Comparison Chart English Verse
Miltonic Sonnet converts the traditional Petrarchan sonnet form by the use of enjambment. This 17th century form was created by English poet, John Milton. Milton also took the sonnet out of the category of "love poems" and brought it into the world of politics and social issues.
The elements of the Miltonic Sonnet are:
a quatorzain, enjambment is used to tighten the sonnet, leaving the 14 lines unbroken by stanzas.
metered, iambic pentameter
rhymed, uses the Petrarchan rhyme scheme abbaabbacdecde.
pivot evolves slowly after L8.
composed around the themes of moral issues and political insights.
On His Blindness by John Milton
When I consider how my light is spent,
ere half my days, in this dark world and wide,
And that one talent which is death to hide
Lodged with the useless, though my soul more bent
to serve therewith my Maker, and present
My true account, lest he returning chide,
Doth God exact day-labour, light denied?
I fondly ask, but Patience, to prevent
That murmur, soon replies: God doth not need
Either man's works or his own gifts: who best
Bear his mild yolk, they serve him best. His state
Is kingly: thousands at his bidding speed
And post o'er land and ocean without rest;
They also serve who only stand and wait.
"Simple sincerity" was the tone of th Bowlesian or Australian Sonnet