The Sonnet

Sonnet The word comes from the Italian word, sonnetto … meaning little song A sonnet is a specific type of poem Sonnets are lyrical poems that consist of 14 lines of equal length They have a regular meter, rhythm and rhyme

Francesco Petrarch Francesco Petrarch was a 14th century Italian He was in love with a woman named Laura He wrote over 400 poems in her honor! Each poem followed the same format…and that format is now known as a Petrarchan Sonnet

English Sonnets Petrarch may have invented the sonnet, but William Shakespeare and Edmund Spenser are said to have perfected it! All three men follow the same basic rules: 14 lines Regular Rhyme Scheme Use of Iambic Pentameter That being said, each poet’s rhyme scheme has its own distinct pattern

Rhyme Scheme A rhyme scheme is a pattern that exists within the sound of the poem’s words Sonnets use end rhyme (the pattern can be found by looking at the last syllable of each line) Every time you have a new sound you use a letter to represent the sound; if you hear the same sound you repeat the letter

For Example … 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. 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; But thy eternal summer shall not fade, Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st, Nor shall death brag thou wand'rest in his shade, When in eternal lines to Time thou grow'st. So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see, So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

Shakespearean Rhyme Scheme Shakespeare’s sonnets always follow: ] QUATRAIN (4 lines that rhyme) A B C D E F G ] QUATRAIN (4 lines that rhyme) ] QUATRAIN (4 lines that rhyme) ] COUPLET (2 lines that rhyme)

Iambic Pentameter The term “iambic” has to do with the emphasis placed on certain syllables Certain words have syllables that are stressed while other syllables are unstressed Consider this … do we say: EM-pha-SIS or em-PHA-sis SYL-la-BLE or syl-LA-ble See what I mean?!?

Iambic Pentameter … An “iambic” line always follows this pattern: ta DUM ta DUM ta DUM ta DUM ta DUM (Its often compared the the rhythm of a heartbeat) Iambic= unstressed/stressed Say this to yourself (exaggerate the sound a little to help yourself see the difference) Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? VS

Iambic Pentameter … Meter measures the number of STRESSED syllables PENTA means 5, so pentameter has 5 stressed syllables Every line in a sonnet has 10 syllables, but only 5 are stressed (2-4-6-8-10) Remember?? ta DUM ta DUM ta DUM ta DUM ta DUM

All Together NOW … 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. 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; But thy eternal summer shall not fade, Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st, Nor shall death brag thou wand'rest in his shade, When in eternal lines to Time thou grow'st. So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see, So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

Let’s Look at Another … 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