When trying to articulate which sonnet is possibly best, there are certain criteria for judging them, the rhyme scheme, volta (turn), length, the use of iambic pentameter, and the meaning of the poem. A sonnet is a poem that consists of fourteen lines, typically using a form of rhyme scheme, usually consists of ten syllable lines, and can be either English or Italian. William Cullen Bryant’s sonnet, “To an American Painter Departing for Europe” meet these criteria. I have also selected two sonnets for which to compare to Bryant’s. By stating what a sonnet is and analyzing Bryant’s sonnet, “To an American Painter Departing for Europe”, along with “The Dead” by Jones Very and Paul Hamilton Hayne’s sonnet, “October”, one can see that Bryant’s sonnet is best.
There are five formal conventions for a sonnet, the rhyme scheme, volta (turn), length, the use of iambic pentameter, and the meaning of the poem. Chapter twelve ‘The Sonnet’ says “form and meaning… is characteristic of sonnets” (‘The Sonnet’ 280). Of the five formal conventions I find that the most important are the rhyme scheme to make it catchy, volta (turn) to have some wit about it, and the poems meaning that helps give the poem a real-life experience. Rhyme scheme in a sonnet is important
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The rhyme scheme in “To an American Painter Departing for Europe” is as follows, ABBACDDCEFFEGG, therefore making it an English sonnet according to chapter twelve ‘The Sonnet’(‘The Sonnet’ 281). Once we have that determined, we find that lines eight and nine is a volta. “Spring bloom and autumn blaze boundless groves. / Fair scenes shall greet thee where thou goest–fair,” (Pg 161 lines 8 and 9). Bryant shifts from talking about America and its beautiful scenery to Europe and “the trace of men” (Pg 161 line 10). Bryant says that Europe is all marked with “paths, homes, graves, ruins” unlike America that