Sonnets Form Poetry Assignment Rapert/AP Lit Create your own sonnet within a week

Sonnet Form 14 Lines Pentameter - ten syllable, five beat lines Primarily Iambic Often poses problem and presents a solution

Iambic Pentameter Iambic pentameter is a line of poetry made up of five iambs: an Iamb is a metrical foot consisting of one unstressed syllable followed by one stressed syllable; Pentameter line has five metrical feet; ta-Tum ta-Tum ta-Tum ta-Tum ta-Tum

Stricter Rhymed Forms Rhyme Schemes  ABABx3 CC  ABAB CDCD EFEF GG  ABBA CDDC EFFE GG  ABCABC DEDEDE FF  END RHYME COMBINATIONS

Structure Meaning of sonnets Usually they are 12 lines of observation or contemplation Two lines of realization, solution, or insight Sometimes they are broken into 3 quatrains of questions or observations, followed by a couplet of understanding.

Options Italian Sonnet  Iambic Pentameter  Rhyme Scheme abba abba cdcdcd  Broader Variety in subject and form  End contains resolution or reiterates theme Shakespearian Sonnet  Iambic Pentameter  Rhyme Scheme abba cddc effe gg Or  abab cdcd efef gg  Usually Romantic  Couplet contains insight or solution

Italian Sonnet Time, that renews the tissues of this frame, That built the child and hardened the soft bone, taught him to wail, to blink, to walk alone, Stare, question, wonder, give the world a name, Forget the watery darkness whence he came, Attends no less the boy to manhood grown, Brings him new raiment, strips him of his own: All skins are shed at length, remorse, even shame. Such hope is mine, if this indeed be true, I dread no more the first white in my hair, Or even age itself, the easy shoe, The cane, the wrinkled hands, the special chair: Time, doing this to me, may alter too My anguish, into something I can bear. Edna St. Vincent Millay abbaabbacdcdcdabbaabbacdcdcd

Shakespearian Sonnet --To the Nine Sisters I wanted to write, but forgot how much postage was needed to reach Olympus. You never call any more. I have thus begun altogether to lose what touch I had with reality and this world of crawling corpses and once human strays, where dreams wake to nothing until time plays god and strips away each flag once unfurled in the name of the day ’ s kingdom. Can you answer, or is it I who have lost my facility to hear encrypted cries that once endeared me to you? Is it true time has erased our knowledge of the signs and life ’ s circle has severed all our lines? David Pitchford abbacddceffeggabbacddceffegg

Further Sonnet Examples- Modernist take, so refutes convention --24 “ next to of course god america I love you land of the pilgrims ’ and so forth of say can you see by the dawn ’ s early my country ‘ tis of centuries come and go and are no more what of it we should worry in every language even deafanddumb thy sons acclaim your glorious name by gorry by jingo by gee by gosh by gum why talk of beauty what could be more beaut- iful than these heroic happy dead who rushed like lions to the roaring slaughter they did not stop to think they died instead then shall the voice of liberty be mute? ” He spoke. And drank rapidly a glass of water e.e. Cummings

Further Examples -- Acquainted with the Night (Italian-kind of-recursive rhyme) I have been one acquainted with the night. a I have walked out in rain - and back in rain. b I have outwalked the furthest city light. a I have looked down the saddest city lane. b I have passed by the watchman on his beat c And dropped my eyes, unwilling to explain. b I have stood still and stopped the sound of feet c When far away an interrupted cry d Came over houses from another street. c But not to call me back or say good-by; d And further still at an unearthly height a One luminary clock against the sky d Proclaimed the time was neither wrong nor right. a I have been one acquainted with the night. a Robert Frost

First Draft Decide type (Italian or Shakespearian) Follow rules Flow unimpeded by reason or critique Natural Language Active Verbs Strong Images and/or Emotions Clear and Concise Have a theme or message

2 nd Draft Fit to Form Trim down text to only necessary words Trim the Trite Mold strengths Cut weaknesses

Close Revision Tighten Verbiage Clarify Images/Emotions Coax the Sound System to Melodious **Before handing in, identify form and explain how your poem fulfills specified rules (identify rhyme scheme, pentameter, etc)