SONNETS

Origins Italian “sonetto” – “a little sound or song” Francesco Petrarch ( ) Wrote hundreds of poems about a woman named Laura DeNoves. Sonnets are poems that focus on a particular theme

Sonnet Length and Meter 14 lines iambic pentameter –Each line has 5 metric units or “feet” –iambic foot = unstressed syllable (U) followed by a stressed syllable (/). 1 iambic foot = U / U / U / U / U / U / Ex: My love is like to ice, and I to fire;

Form Differences Sonnet forms can be differentiated by rhyme schemes and stanzas: –Italian (Petrarchan) Sonnet ABBAABBA CDECDE (or CDCDCD) –English (Shakespearean) Sonnet ABAB CDCD EFEF GG –Spenserian Sonnet ABAB BCBC CDCD EE

The Italian Sonnet Often called the Petrarchan sonnet a common topic for this form is unrequited love Octave (first 8 lines): presents a problem Sestet (last 6 lines): provides an answer or resolution to the problem Stanzas and Rhyme scheme –octave: abbaabba –sestet: cdecde or cdcdcd

Sonnet XII by Francesco Petrarch If my life find strength enough to fight the grievous battle of each passing day, that I may meet your gaze, years from today, lady, when your eyes have lost their light octave: and when your golden curls have turned to white, problem and vanished are your wreaths and green array, and when your youthful hue has fled away, whose beauty make me tremble in its sight, perhaps then love will overcome my fears Turn enough that I may let my secret rise and tell you what I’ve suffered all these years; sestet: and if no flame be kindled in your eyes, resolution at least I may be granted for my tears the comfort of a few belated sighs.

The English Sonnet Also called the Shakespearean sonnet 3 quatrains rhyme scheme: abab cdcd efef –question raised/problem presented 1 couplet –rhyme scheme: gg allows for a more detailed development of the question or problem demands a quick solution in the couplet

Sonnet 29 by William Shakespeare When in disgrace with fortune and men’s eyes I all alone beweep my outcast state, And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries, Problem: And look upon myself and curse my fate, Wishing me like to one more rich in hope, Featur’d like him, like him with friends possess’d, Desiring this man’s art, and that man’s scope, With what I most enjoy contented least; Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising, Haply I think on thee, and then my state, Like to the lark at break of day arising Turn From sullen earth, sings hymns at heaven’s gate, Solution For thy sweet love rememb’red such wealth brings That then I scorn to change my state with kings.

Spenserian Sonnet Created by Sir Edmund Spencer 3 Quatrains 1 Couplet Rhyme scheme: abab bcbc cdcd ee Interlocking rhyme scheme “pushes” the sonnet toward the final couplet Couplet: key point or comment

SWEET is the Rose, but grows upon a briar; Sweet is the Juniper, but sharp his bough; sweet is the Eglantine, but pricketh near; sweet is the fir bloom, but his branches rough Sweet is the Cypress, but his rind is tough, sweet is the nut, but bitter is his pill; sweet is the broom-flower, but yet sour enough; and sweet is Moly, but his root is ill. So every sweet with sour is tempered still, that maketh it be coveted the more: for easy things that may be got at will, most sorts of men do set but little store. Why then should I account of little pain, that endless pleasure shall unto me gain.

Literary Techniques Alliteration: repeating beginning word sounds. Ex: Fred’s Free Fresh Fries Symbolism: –Metaphor: comparing two unlike things –Simile: comparing two unlike things with the words “like” or “as” –Personification: assigning human characteristics to a non-human object

Allusion: reference to a person, place, or event of history or legend; reference to a previously published work of literature. Ex: You’re like Katniss when it comes to archery. (this is an allusion to the Hunger Games) Enjambment: the running over of sentence from one line of verse to another. Ex: I’ll look to like if looking liking move. End stop line: A complete sentence contained in one line of verse. Ex: I’ll look to like if looking liking move.

The Couplet You can say a lot with a little. Time is the school in which we learn Time is the fire in which we burn. 1. Interpret this couplet. What do you think it means?

TPCASTT This is a method of poetry analysis. The whole point of it is to help you understand what the poem means in the most in-depth manner possible. Once you internalize the ideas behind TPCASTT you can analyze any poem and you won’t even need a workshee.

No te amo como si fueras rosa de sal, topacio o flecha de claveles que propagan el fuego: te amo como se aman ciertas cosas oscuras, secretamente, entre la sombra y el alma. Te amo como la planta que no florece y lleva dentro de sí, escondida, la luz de aquellas flores, y gracias a tu amor vive oscuro en mi cuerpo el apretado aroma que ascendió de la tierra. Te amo sin saber cómo, ni cuándo, ni de dónde, te amo directamente sin problemas ni orgullo: así te amo porque no sé amar de otra manera, sino así de este modo en que no soy ni eres, tan cerca que tu mano sobre mi pecho es mía, tan cerca que se cierran tus ojos con mi sueño. I don’t love you as if you were a rose of salt, topaz, or arrow of carnations that propagate fire: I love you as one loves certain obscure things, secretly, between the shadow and the soul. I love you as the plant that doesn’t bloom but carries the light of those flowers, hidden, within itself, and thanks to your love the tight aroma that arose from the earth lives dimly in my body. I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where, I love you directly without problems or pride: I love you like this because I don’t know any other way to love, except in this form in which I am not nor are you, so close that your hand upon my chest is mine, so close that your eyes close with my dreams.