The Sonnet Where did it come from? Where is it now?

But first, a word about form...

form the overall structure or shape of the poem Fixed form is recognizable by its pattern of lines, meter, rhymes and stanzas Free verse/open form does not conform to established pattern of lines, meter, rhymes and stanzas Furu ike ya kawazu tobikomu mizu no oto The old pond; a frog jumps in — the sound of the water.

the pieces 1.a grouping of lines set off by space (think 3 rd grade music class) 2.each grouping typically shares a common rhyme scheme (i.e., the pattern of end rhymes) Of course, there are different kinds... stanza

one little, two little... Couplet 1.two lines that usually rhyme 2.same meter Heroic couplet: rhymed iambic pentameter Tercet three-line stanza when all three lines rhyme, you have a triplet

four little, six little... Quatrain four-line stanza most common stanzaic form most common schemes are: aabb, abba, aaba, and abcb Sestet six-line stanza most common schemes are: cdecde, cdcdcd, and cdccdc Octave eight-line stanza most common scheme is: abbaabba

What the heck is a sonnet, anyway?

sonnet basics: some history First appearance? early 13 th century Sicily First practitioner? Jacopo (or Giacomo) da Lentini

sonnet basics: (more) history Characteristics used “popular” language (Italian; not Latin) meant to be sung: sonetto = little sound or song initially, combined: 1.two Sicilian quatrains rhyming abababab 2.sestet rhyming cdecde rhyme scheme varied for the next 100 years until...

sonnet basics: (even more) history Francesco Petrarca, or Petrarch Tuscan poet ( ) between 1327 and 1366 wrote sequence of 366 sonnets and canzone called Rime Sparse poems chronicle his amorous obsession with Laura, a married woman and mother of eleven children

sonnet basics: Petrarch’s influence Key: Petrarch changes the sonnet, topically; love becomes central: its ideal vs. its temporal possibility barrier to religious transcendence means to achieve that transcendence source of spiritual metamorphosis as a way to focus on the natural and political world

Petrarchan (aka Italian) sonnet 1.two part* sonnet: octave** followed by a sestet 2.octave presents a situation, attitude or problem 3.sestet comments on or resolves it 3.the volta (turn) occurs at line 9 4.hendecasyllabic lines (11 beats) * change in rhyme scheme indicates a change in subject matter ** this type rhyming abbaabba is also known as a double- envelope quatrain

Soleasi Nel Mio Cor She ruled in beauty o'er this heart of mine,a A noble lady in a humble home,b And now her time for heavenly bliss has come, b 'Tis I am mortal proved, and she divine. a The soul that all its blessings must resign, a And love whose light no more on earth finds room, b Might rend the rocks with pity for their doom, b Yet none their sorrows can in words enshrine; a They weep within my heart; and ears are deaf c Save mine alone, and I am crushed with care, d And naught remains to me save mournful breath. e Assuredly but dust and shade we are, d Assuredly desire is blind and brief, c Assuredly its hope but ends in death. e Petrarchan sonnet: sample

Here come the English s Sir Thomas Wyatt, encounters sonnet while travelling in Italy and Spain brings the form (and the Petrarchan model of the sonnet sequence) back to England Key: shows immediate preference for the concluding couplet

The English sonnet (cont’d)... Key Development Wyatt’s friend, Henry Howard, the earl of Surrey, establishes the model of three quatrains and a couplet new rhyme scheme: abab cdcd efef gg Note: this pattern more congenial to rhyme-poor English language it is this form that Shakespeare employed and that continues to today A paranoid King Henry VIII has Howard imprisoned and then executed for treason.

three quatrains give more flexibility about where thematic breaks occur typical rhyme scheme is abab cdcd efef gg typically written in iambic pentameter the volta typically occurs with the couplet, though Shakespeare often turns his argument at line 9 English/Shakespearean The Bard

William Shakespeare Sonnet 130 My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun; Coral is far more red than her lips' red; If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun; If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head. I have seen roses damasked, red and white, But no such roses see I in her cheeks; And in some perfumes is there more delight Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks. I love to hear her speak, yet well I know That music hath a far more pleasing sound; I grant I never saw a goddess go; My mistress when she walks treads on the ground. And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare As any she belied with false compare.

typical rhyme scheme is abab bcbc cdcd ee the abab pattern sets up distinct line groups; each develops a specific—but closely related— idea use of “but” or “yet” always occurs at line 9; however, the volta often occurs at line 12 couplet either a distinct idea or commentary spenserian

Edmund Spencer Sonnet LIV Of this World's theatre in which we stay, My love like the Spectator idly sits, Beholding me, that all the pageants play, Disguising diversely my troubled wits. Sometimes I joy when glad occasion fits, And mask in mirth like to a Comedy; Soon after when my joy to sorrow flits, I wail and make my woes a Tragedy. Yet she, beholding me with constant eye, Delights not in my mirth nor rues my smart; But when I laugh, she mocks: and when I cry She laughs and hardens evermore her heart. What then can move her? If nor mirth nor moan, She is no woman, but a senseless stone.

some are still 14 lines some are not unconventional rhyme scheme such as... other types

Percy Bysse Shelley Ozymandias I met a traveller from an antique land Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone Stand in the desert... Near them, on the sand, Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown, And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command Tell that its sculptor well those passions read Which yet survive, (stamped on these lifeless things,) The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed: And on the pedestal these words appear: "My name is Ozymandias, king of kings: Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!" Nothing beside remains. Round the decay Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare The lone and level sands stretch far away.

From the “33″ Sonnet Sequence Sometimes the words are so close I am more who I am when I’m down on paper than anywhere else as if my life were practicing for the real me I become unbuttoned from the anecdotal and unnecessary and unpressed down to the figure of the poem, line by line, the real text a child could understand. Why do I get confused living it through? Those of you, lost and yearning to be free, who hear these words, take heart from me. I was once in as many drafts as you. But briefly, essentially, here I am: Who touches this poem touches a woman. --Julia Alvarez

The Investment by Robert Frost Over back where they speak of life as staying ('You couldn't call it living, for it ain't'), There was an old, old house renewed with paint, And in it a piano loudly playing. Out in the plowed ground in the cold a digger, Among unearthed potatoes standing still, Was counting winter dinners, one a hill, With half an ear to the piano's vigor. All that piano and new paint back there, Was it some money suddenly come into? Or some extravagance young love had been to? Or old love on an impulse not to care-- Not to sink under being man and wife, But get some color and music out of life?