Shakespearean Sonnet Notes (I LOVE SONNETS!)

What is a Sonnet? A sonnet is a type of poem that has extremely exact proportions. You can never mess with a sonnet’s line length, word count, or rhyme scheme. Fun Fact: Sonnet gets its name from the Italian sonetto which means “little song”

How do you know it’s a sonnet? 14 lines 10 syllables in each line Written in Iambic Pentameter Shakespearean Sonnets (which we’re focusing on) have the rhyme scheme ABAB CDCD EFEF GG Fun Fact: Shakespeare is famous for writing 154 sonnets.

Iambic Pentameter ?!?!?! Iambic Pentameter is a rhythm the words take on. It is based on stressed and unstressed syllables. Basically, it goes one unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable 5 times in a line. da-DUM-da-DUM-da-DUM-da-DUM-da-DUM My MOTHer WENT to THE horse RACE toDAY.

The Rhyme Scheme ABAB CDCD EFEF GG There are 3 quatrains (4-line groups) and 1 couplet (2 line group) Look at the rhyme pattern. Got (A) Bat (C) Swing (E) Torn (G) Sand (B) Mad (D) Laugh (F) Sworn (G) Hot (A) Sat (C) Ting (E) Hand (B) Dad (D) Gaff (F)

How are sonnets organized? Each part of the poem has a different purpose. The first quatrain poses a question or a problem. The second quatrain gives some tentative (possible) answers. The third quatrain gives a turn: (I know, again with the TWIST!) a shift in focus or thought. The couplet gives an answer in the form of an epiphany (insight) on or refutes what the whole poem has been about as an answer.

Quatrain 2: Tentative or Possible answers Quatrains: Sonnet 18  Rhyme Scheme Quatrain 1: A question Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?  Thou art more lovely and more temperate. Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, And summer’s lease hath all too short a date A B Quatrain 2: Tentative or Possible answers Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,  And often is his gold complexion dimmed;   And every fair from fair sometime declines, By chance, or nature’s changing course untrimmed. C D C D Quatrain 3: The Turn  But thy eternal summer shall not fade, Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest, Nor shall Death brag thou wander’st in his shade  When in eternal lines to time thou grow’st. E F E F Couplet: A final answer So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,  So long lives this, and this gives life to thee. G

Cupcake Class Sonnet Sonnet TOPIC: CUPCAKES!! Each group will write one line of the sonnet. The lines need to be 10 syllables exactly and the last word needs to rhyme with the word below. Lines 1 & 3 SAT Lines 2 & 4 FEET Lines 5 & 7 PASTE Lines 6 & 8 MOST Lines 9 & 11 PEST Lines 10 & 12 HILL Lines 13 & 14 ASK