There are both similarities and differences between Petrarch’s Sonnet XXXV and a tweet or a novel. Both the sonnet and a tweet attempt to convey information to a large number of people and are looking to evoke some sort of emotional response – a small chuckle, a sympathizing nod, or a extra moment of thought on the subject. In both cases the writer has limited space in which to get his point across: either the limited number of lines in a sonnet or the limited number of characters in a tweet. However, a major difference between the two is that Petrarch spent much more time and took a lot more care in writing his sonnets than any celebrity or individual does with their tweets today. In this way a sonnet is more similar to a novel – something that goes through many drafts before publication and is tampered with until it is perfect.
In Petrarch’s Sonnet XXXV the “problem” is that he is alone, however he doesn’t seem to think of it as much of a problem at all. From what I understand, the subject wants to get away from people to hide what he is feeling inside, but in doing so realizes he cannot hide from himself. Rhyming is not the most significant element in this sonnet. Many of the words do rhyme, but it is not evident when the poem is read out loud because of the punctuation (for example, strand/sand, dark/mark, and me/gaiety). ‘Learn’ and ‘burn’ are the only two that really stand out to me as a clear rhyme, but they still don’t have an apparent relationship. The first eight lines of this sonnet are made up of two quatrains and then the mood of the poem changes with the last six lines, comprised of two tercets. The last tercet is my favorite stanza out of all three sonnets we discussed in class this week – it definitely concludes the poem in a beautiful manner and leaves the reader (me) happily satisfied.
In your first paragraph, you find that the sonnet and the tweet are similar in their limited nature. However, you make an interesting point that the poet puts more care into the creation of a sonnet than the tweeter into the creation of a tweet. Do you think that the form itself represents this? Does the informal language of a tweet express a lack of care, whereas the ornate images and rhymes of a sonnet express care? If so, couldn’t they both have the same amount of effort, except one wants to show the effort, whereas the other does not?
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