Shakespeare as Poetry Sonnets

Types  A sonnet is a lyric poem consisting of fourteen lines.  A Shakespearean sonnet contains three quatrains (four lines each) and a final rhyming couplet (two lines).

Definitions  Quatrain = one of three four-line stanzas in a Shakespearean sonnet  Couplet =the final two rhyming lines in a Shakespearean sonnet  Shakespearean Rhyme Scheme = abab,cdcd,efef,gg

Examples  Prologue Act I  Prologue Act II  When Romeo and Juliet first meet at the Capulet ball

Prologue  Two households, both alike in dignity, In fair Verona, where we lay our scene, From ancient grudge break to new mutiny, Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean. From forth the fatal loins of these two foes A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life; Whose misadventured piteous overthrows Do with their death bury their parents' strife. The fearful passage of their death-mark'd love, And the continuance of their parents' rage, Which, but their children's end, nought could remove, Is now the two hours' traffic of our stage; The which if you with patient ears attend, What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend.

Check for Understanding  What words are used for “f” rhyme scheme in the third quatrain?  What two lines are the couplet?

Answers  Rage and Stage  The which if you with patient ears attend, What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend.

Prologue Rhyme Scheme Two households, both alike in dignity, A In fair Verona, where we lay our scene, B From ancient grudge break to new mutiny, A Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean. B From forth the fatal loins of these two foes C A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life; D Whose misadventured piteous overthrows C Do with their death bury their parents' strife. D The fearful passage of their death-mark'd love, E And the continuance of their parents' rage, F Which, but their children's end, nought could remove,E Is now the two hours' traffic of our stage; F The which if you with patient ears attend, G What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend. G

Quatrain 1  Two households, both alike in dignity, A In fair Verona, where we lay our scene, B From ancient grudge break to new mutiny, A Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean. B

Quatrain 2 From forth the fatal loins of these two foes C A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life; D Whose misadventured piteous overthrows C Do with their death bury their parents' strife. D

Quatrain 3 The fearful passage of their death-mark'd love, E And the continuance of their parents' rage, F Which, but their children's end, nought could remove, E Is now the two hours' traffic of our stage; F

Couplet The which if you with patient ears attend, G What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend. G

Shakespearean Sonnets (Level 4 Information)  The type of meter used in Shakespearean sonnets is iambic pentameter  The meter of a poem is its rhythm of accented and unaccented syllables organized into patterns called feet.  An iamb is a foot consisting of two syllables, one unaccented (unstressed) and one accented (stressed).  Unaccented syllable = U  Accented syllable = /  Pentameter means five feet…so each line in a sonnet contains five iambs

THEREFORE,  if an iamb contains two syllables, and there are five total iambs in each line, the total number of syllables per line in a Shakespearean sonnet is 10

Why iambic pentameter?  It reflects the natural rhythm of the human heartbeat.  It is the rhythm most common to our natural way of speaking.