"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. [36] On the structure and history of the sonnet, see Schipper, as cited above; C. Tomlinson: _The Sonnet, its Origin, Structure, and Place in Poetry_ (1874); K. Lentzner: _Ueber das Sonett und seine Gestaltung in der englischen Dichtung bis Milton_ (1886); Leigh Hunt and S. A. Lee: _The Book of the Sonnet_ (with introductory essay, 1867); W. Sharp: _Sonnets of This Century_ (with essay, 1886); S. Waddington: _English Sonnets by Poets of the Past_, and _English Sonnets by Living Poets_; Hall Caine: _Sonnets of Three Centuries_ (1882); H. Corson: _Primer of English Verse_, chap. x. [37] In 1575, when Gascoigne wrote his _Notes of Instruction_, he found it necessary to say: "Some thinke that all Poemes (being short) may be called Sonets, as in deede it is a diminutive worde derived of _Sonare_, but yet I can beste allowe to call those Sonnets whiche are of fouretene lynes, every line conteyning tenne syllables. The firste twelve do ryme in staves of foure lines by crosse meetre, and the last two ryming togither do conclude the whole." (Arber's Reprint, pp. 38, 39.) It is, of course, the English sonnet which Gascoigne thus describes. [38] Shakspere also introduced sonnets into some of his earlier plays: _Love's Labor's Lost_, _All's Well that Ends Well_, _Romeo and Juliet_, and _Henry V._ See Fleay's _Chronicle of the English Drama_, vol. ii. p. 224, and Schelling's _Elizabethan Lyrics_, p. xxx. V. THE ODE The term Ode is used of English poetry with considerable vagueness. The Century Dictionary defines the word thus: "A lyric poem expressive of exalted or enthusiastic emotion, especially one of complex or irregular metrical form; originally and strictly, such a composition intended to be sung." Compare with this the definition of Mr. Gosse, in his collection of _English Odes_: "Any strain of enthusiastic and exalted lyrical verse, directed to a fixed purpose, and dealing progressively with one dignified theme."