Ebook The Sonnets of Milton

It was also reserved for Milton to establish in England the more familiar and classical forms of the Italian Sonnet, which had been much neglected, although not wholly and entirely, by his predecessors. The Sonnet is here our special theme; and its use by English poets cannot well be considered without reference to its subjects and methods in the country of its origin. It first appeared in Italy in the twelfth century; it has continued there in unbroken use till the twentieth and the Italian poetry which has been cast into the sonnet form is without bound or limit; infinite in its copiousness, and impressive in its value and beauty. One of the most famous of poets, Petrarch, made it peculiarly his own, and became the master of many disciples but the sonnet extends far outside the Petrarchian range.