The Sonnet

A sonnet is a very strict form with a lot of rules… A sonnet is a lyric poem All sonnets have fourteen lines Sonnets are written in a special meter called iambic pentameter Sonnets have a strict rhyme scheme Sonnets have a definite thought structure

A lyric poem Deals with emotions, feelings Like other lyric poetry, sonnets use a lot of sound devices and figurative language So sonnets usually deal with emotions and feelings

The Two Types of Sonnets Shakespearean Also called Elizabethan or English Divided into 3 quatrains and 1 couplet Rhyme Scheme= ABAB CDCD EFEF GG Petrarchan Also called Italian Divided into an octave and a sestet Rhyme Scheme= ABBA ABBA CDECDE or ABBA ABBA CD CD CD

Both are written in Iambic Pentameter Iambic Pentameter is a special meter or rhythm Meter is the rhythm created by the number and pattern of syllables in a line of poetry A line of IP has ten syllables Those syllables are broken up into five units or feet If there are ten syllables divided up into five feet, how many syllables are in each foot?

An iamb is a metrical foot or unit consisting of two syllables: a unstressed syllable: U followed by an stressed syllable: / U / a gain U / U / im mor tal ize

Iambic pentameter One day /I wrote/ her name/ upon/ the strand, 1 2 3 4 5 One day /I wrote/ her name/ upon/ the strand, But came the waves and wash ed it a way: A gain I wrote it with a second hand, But came the tide, and made my pains his prey Edmund Spenser, Amoretti, Sonnet 75 U / U / U / U / U / U / U / U / U / U / U / U / U / U / U / U / U / U / U / U /

Marking Scansion Drawing lines between the feet and marking the syllables as stressed or unstressed is called marking the scansion. You have to do this in your packet. It would probably be easier if you typed out the line and then put in the notations after you printed the packet.

Rhyme scheme Like we said earlier… there are two types of sonnets. Each has a different rhyme pattern: Petrarchan (Italian) rhyme scheme: abba, abba, cd, cd, cd abba, abba, cde, cde Shakespearean (English, or Elizabethan) rhyme scheme: abab, cdcd, efef, gg

Let’s take a look at a Shakespearean Sonnet…. First we’ll examine the form… How many lines will it have? What type of stanzas are those lines divided into? How many syllables in each line? And the rhyme scheme? OK…. Go do Edline and download Sonnet 18

Sonnet 18 A B C D E F G 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 wander'st 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 take a look at the rhyme scheme of this sonnet…

Thought structure Every Shakespearean sonnet is made up of three quatrains and a couple Quatrain, quatrain, quatrain, couplet Each quatrain, four lines, describes an idea or situation which leads to a conclusion or response in the couplet, two lines.

The first quatrain describes the ways in which the summer’s day is inferior to the beloved. 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 wander'st 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. The 2nd quatrain describes the ways that nature and the sun are not perfect like his beloved. The 3rd quatrain explains that his beloved will live on forever through this poem. The couplet sums this up. The poem makes her immortal

So… While the diction of Shakespearean sonnets may seem difficult, with a little patience, you can unravel the meaning. Let’s try writing our own lines of Iambic Pentameter so you can see how difficult it would be to write an entire sonnet.