Note 35 — PART TWO (continued 2)
Reading edition
It will perhaps be found of interest to reproduce the "Ten Commandments of the Sonnet" given by Mr. Sharp in his Introduction to Sonnets of this Century (p. lxxviii):
"1. The sonnet must consist of fourteen decasyllabic lines.
"2. Its octave, or major system, whether or not this be marked by a pause in the cadence after the eighth line, must (unless cast in the Shakespearian mould) follow a prescribed arrangement in the rhyme-sounds—namely, the first, fourth, fifth, and eighth lines must rhyme on the same sound, and the second, third, sixth, and seventh on another.
"3. Its sestet, or minor system, may be arranged with more freedom, but a rhymed couplet at the close is only allowable when the form is the English or Shakespearian.
"4. No terminal should also occur in any other portion of any other line in the same system; and the rhyme-sounds (1) of the octave should be harmoniously at variance, and (2) the rhyme-sounds of the sestet should be entirely distinct in intonation from those of the octave....
"5. It must have no slovenliness of diction, no weak or indeterminate terminations, no vagueness of conception, and no obscurity.
"6. It must be absolutely complete in itself—i.e., it must be the evolution of one thought, or one emotion, or one poetically apprehended fact.
"7. It should have the characteristic of apparent inevitableness, and in expression be ample, yet reticent....
"8. The continuity of the thought, idea, or emotion must be unbroken throughout.
"9. Continuous sonority must be maintained from the first phrase to the last.
"10. The end must be more impressive than the commencement."
These rules of course represent the ideal of the strictest Italian form, and are by no means derived from the prevailing practice of English poets.