Volta: form and gestalt. The history of the English Sonnet as an exploration of poetic form

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Felix Sprang
• Subject Area: European and American Literary and Cultural Studies
• Term: from 2013 to 2014
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 239734411

The sonnet form is usually conceived of as a rigid poetic form (Cousins/Howarth 2011; Borgstedt 2009) that is marked by its prosodic features: the 14 lines in combination with a rigorous rhyme scheme. Taking a phenomenological and dynamic conception of form (Cassirer [1928] 1995, Leighton 2007) as a point of departure, I focus on the volta, i.e. the caesura that divides the poem thematically and introduces a turn or shift in perspective. Investigating the volta as a cognitive movement allows for probing into the dynamic relationship between established forms and formal innovations with respect to the Gestalt of the sonnet from the early modern period to the present. While the investigation may facilitate our understanding of the sonnet's popularity, it is primarily aimed at probing into the relationship between generic conventions and dynamic form. If we conceive of poetic form as a process rather than a structure, it is argued, investigating the dynamics of form may also arrive at a better understanding of how we conceptualize poetry and literary history. When in Cambridge I should like to devote all my time to analysing individual sonnets and - in discussions with Angela Leighton, who has been inspirational throughout the initial stages of this project - to devising models and ways of describing the dynamics of poetic form that go beyond traditional formalism. I should also like to consult scholars who have worked on cognitive (Raphael Lyne) and rhetorical/lyrical (Gavin Alexander) notions of form. And I will look for manuscript sources that can possibly tell us something about the poetics of the volta from the poet's and the audience's perspective.

• DFG Programme: Research Fellowships
• International Connection: United Kingdom
• Host: Professorin Angela Leighton