Sonnet

As the title implies, Johnson’s “Sonnet” takes on the form of a Shakespearean sonnet. This particular sonnet form is among the most commonly used English sonnet variants. Named after William Shakespeare, who popularized the form, the Shakespearean sonnet consists of 14 lines of iambic pentameter arranged into three quatrains followed by a rhyming couplet in an ABAB CDCD EFEF GG rhyme scheme. The sonnet is usually structured around a single thought, subject, or conceit—traditionally concerning romantic love—with a volta, or turn in thought, near the end. In a typical Shakespearean sonnet, the volta occurs in the concluding rhyming couplet. In Johnson’s “Sonnet,” however, the volta occurs at Line 9, when the poet-speaker shifts into a directive tone of voice. This deviation in volta placement resembles a Petrarchan sonnet.

Very few poems that follow poetic forms do so exactly, and poets will often exploit these deviations to reinforce certain themes, ideas, or images—as Johnson does by placing the double stressed syllables at the end of the fifth line (“For certain as the raven-winged night” [Line 5]). There are a few places where Johnson breaks