English 12 - Birgenheier

Introduced in England during the 16 th Century by Sir Thomas Wyatt Reached its peak during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I Usually appeared as love poems (Shakespeare, Spenser, Sidney) 17 th Century - John Donne’s “Holy Sonnets” used form to express religious themes Milton wrote religiously and personally (on his own blindness) 19 Century – Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Dante Gabriel Rosetti revived form 20 th Century – poets still use and play with the sonnet form (Seamus Heaney) THE SONNET

Italian (Petrarchan) Shakespearean Spenserian 3 TYPES

Petrarch wrote a sequence of poems called “Canzonieri” which included 317 sonnets. Elements: octave (8 line stanza), rhyming abbaabba generally presents an idea, raises an argument, makes a proposition, or poses a problem sestet (6 line stanza), rhyming cdcdcd, or cdecde, but NO final couplet, illustrates the idea in the octave, responds to it, solves the problem or ponders it volta: occurs between the octave and the sestet; it is a turning point ITALIAN (PETRARCHAN)

Elements: consists of 3 quatrains (4-line stanzas), rhyming abab cdcd efef and a couplet 3 quatrains offer points to an argument images, or situations couplet can drive home a conculsion SHAKESPEAREAN

Least commonly used Elements: consists of 3 quatrains (4-line stanzas), rhyming abab bcbc cdcd, followed by a couplet, rhyming ee SPENSERIAN

Conceit: extended metaphor that makes a comparison between seemingly dissimilar things (i.e. love to a baited hook) Couplet: 2 consecutive lines of poetry that rhyme Heroic Couplet: couplet written in iambic pentameter Closed Couplet: couplet that presents a complete thought End-Stopped Line: line of poetry in which the meter and meaning conclude with the line’s end TERMS TO KNOW

Lyric Poetry: poetry that focuses on expressing emotions or thoughts, rather than telling a story. Enjambment: line of poetry in which the meter and meaning do not conclude with the line’s end. Meter: generally regular pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in poetry Metrical Foot: one stressed and one of more unstressed syllables Paradox: an apparent contradiction that is somehow true (love makes you both blissful and miserable TERMS (CONT.)

Scansion: marking off the metrical pattern of a poem Dimeter: two feet per line Trimeter: three feet per line Tetrameter: four feet per line Pentameter: five feet per line Hexameter: six feet per line Iambic Pentameter: 5 iambs (unstressed/stressed syllables) = 10 syllables per line: Since in a net I seek to hold the wind. Turn: shift in though or mood; change Apostrophe: figure of speech where a speaker directly addresses and absent person, an abstract quality or something nonhuman as if it were present TERMS (CONT.)