include antithesis, CONCEITs, and the BLAZON. Many
sonnets also employ the use of a persona—an assumed
identity not necessarily shared by the poet—in order
to present renditions of idealized COURTLY LOVE. Son-
nets may be linked together in order to form a com-
plete narrative in what has become known as a SONNET
SEQUENCE.
There are three basic forms of sonnets: the tradi-
tional form, called the ITALIAN (PETRARCHAN) SONNET;
the ENGLISH SONNET, sometimes referred to as the Eliza-
bethan or Shakespearean sonnet; and the rare SPENSE-
RIAN SONNET (named for EDMUND SPENSER). In England,
sonnets became popular in the 16th century, reaching
a peak in the 1590s, although the form remained pop-
ular well into the 17th century. SIR THOMAS WYATT and
HENRY HOWARD, EARL OF SURREY, are credited with
introducing the sonnet to English literature.
See also QUATORZAIN, STRAMBOTTO.
FURTHER READING
Oppenheimer, Paul. “The Origin of the Sonnet.” Compara-
tive Literature 34, no. 4 (1982): 289–304.
Wilkins, Ernest Hatch. “The Invention of the Sonnet.” Mod-
ern Philology 13 (1915): 463–494.
“SONNET ON TICHO BRAHE, A” JAMES
VI/I (ca. 1590) In October 1589, Scotland’s James
VI (King James I of England) sailed for Norway to
marry Anne of Denmark. During the couple’s stay in
Denmark, James visited astronomer Tycho Brahe on
March 20, 1590. On the island of Hven, between Den-
mark and Sweden, Tycho had built an observatory
named Uraniborg, after Urania, the astronomers’ muse.
Tycho Brahe’s work, undertaken before the discovery
of the telescope, is of great signifi cance for Renaissance
astronomy, infl uencing Johannes Kepler and, through
him, Isaac Newton.
After the visit, James composed “A Sonnet on Ticho
Brahe” as well as two more poems, each entitled
“Another on the same.” The second is also a SONNET,
while the third is a hexastich (poem consisting of six
verses or lines). Editors today sometimes print the
poems as separate entries but more often treat them as
a series.
“A Sonnet on Ticho Brahe” traces the creation of the
universe: God, “he [who] in ordour everie thing hade
broght” (l. 3), fashions the earth, humanity, and the
beasts. The planets were traditionally believed to gov-
ern life on earth, “as heavenlie impes to governe bodies
basse” (l. 11). The sonnet is elegantly concluded in the
closing COUPLET: “The greate is Ticho who by this his
booke / Commandement doth ouer these commanders
brooke” (ll. 13–14). “Commandement,” or understand-
ing of the workings of the planets (and by extension of
the works of God) is Brahe’s great accomplishment.
The notion of the heavenly spheres in the fi rst son-
net, “eache Planet in his place” (l. 9), is continued in
the second, where “euerie planet hath his owen repaire”
(l. 19). The poem stresses the beauty of divine order
and praises “Tichoes tooles” (l. 25), his instruments,
and possibly the planetary model at Uraniborg, refl ect-
ing all heaven’s “ordour” (l. 24) in miniature. The syn-
tax of the fi nal hexastich (six-line poem) is complex
and ambiguous. It appears to argue that Brahe, in guid-
ing or tracking the course of the sun, is wiser than the
mythic character Phaeton, who died attempting the
same, or even the sun god Apollo, Urania’s “eldest fos-
tre dear” (l. 34). The lines juxtapose modern scientifi c
understanding with non-Christian notions of the work-
ings of the universe, favoring Brahe’s insights.
It should be noted that James’s depiction of the
heavens is rather old-fashioned, following the Ptole-
maic system rather than the Copernican model that
Brahe followed and revised. Although James’s poems
are fl attering, scientifi c discovery had not yet replaced
poetic commonplaces: The king’s work does not refl ect
Brahe’s astronomical discoveries. Nonetheless, they are
a fi ne tribute to a signifi cant scientist.
See also JAMES VI/I.
FURTHER READING
Westcott, Allan F., ed. New Poems by James I of England.
New York: Columbia University Press, 1911.
Craigie, James, ed. The Poems of James VI of Scotland. 2 vols.
Edinburgh: Scottish Text Society, 1955, 1958.
Sebastiaan VerweijSONNET SEQUENCE The term sonnet sequence
refers to a collection of related SONNETs. A sonnet is a
poem that consists of 14 lines and can take different
forms: the ITALIAN (PETRARCHAN) SONNET, The ENGLISH420 “SONNET ON TICHO BRAHE, A”