Sonnet Sonnet A sonnet is a poem in a specific form which originated in Italy; Giacomo da Lentini is credited with its invention. The term "sonnet" is derived from the Italian word "sonetto" (from Old Provençal "sonet" a little poem, from "son" song, from Latin "sonus" a sound). By the thirteenth century it signified a poem of fourteen lines that follows a strict rhyme scheme and specific structure. Conventions associated with the sonnet have evolved over its history. Writers of sonnets are sometimes called "sonneteers", although the term can be used derisively. The sonnet was created by Giacomo da Lentini, head
Sonnet 71 him to mourn. This is particularly ironic considering that there are lines in other sonnets (e.g., Sonnet 18, Sonnet 55, Sonnet 65 and Sonnet 81) that speak of immortality through poetic verse, thus negating the possibility that one can be forgotten. These examples give credence to Peguiney's argument of a calculated attempt to invoke the youth's mourning, as he writes in his essay Sonnets 71-74, "The 'if' clauses at lines 5 and 9 are cunning invitations to future readings of the verse, and how impossible it would be for 'you [to] read this [handwritten] line' and 'remember not / The