The Sonnet Form

The Traditional Sonnet Form of Lyrical Poetry 14 Lines Distinct rhyme scheme Specific meter iambic pentameter (10 syllables per line) iambic hexameter (12 syllables per line)

Three Main Types of Sonnets  Petrarchan (or Italian)  Shakespearean (or English)  Spenserian

Iambic Pentameter Example: divine = di vine Five “iambs” – pent = five An iamb is two syllables: one soft and one stressed ∪ ∕ ∪ ∕ Example: divine = di vine

Iambic Pentameter Iambic Pentameter is a line with five iambs – 10 syllables – with a pattern of ∪ ∕ ∪ ∕ ∪ ∕ Try it out: My dearest Love, you’ve suffered such abuse. My heart, my X-box: DEAD from over-use!

Petrarchan (Italian) Sonnet Named for Italian poet, Petrarch, 1304-1374 14 Lines in two parts: Octave (first eight lines) Sestet (final six lines) The octave poses a problem, a reflection, a question The sestet answers, responds, or resolves the octave. This turn in focus is called the volta.

Petrarchan (Italian) Sonnet * Rhyme schemes vary * Theme of Courtly Love * Written in sequences, with several sonnets addressing a single idea or person

Shakespearean (English) Sonnet Specific rhyme scheme: abab cdcd efef gg Iambic pentameter 12 lines address topic Volta (turn) occurs with rhyming couplet at the end

Shakespearean Sonnet Shakespeare left London and the theatre during plague of 1592-1593 to work on his poetry 154 sonnets in three sequences One sequence to a young man Another sequence to his mistress, known as “The Dark Lady” Third sequence addresses a variety of life’s issues: betrayal, weariness, exasperation with the world, etc.

Shakespearean Sonnet Shakespeare broke the “sonnet rules” established by Petrarch  Speaks about politics and human evils having nothing to do with love Makes fun of love and parodies beauty Talks about sex (eek!)

Spenserian Sonnet Variation of the Shakespearean sonnet Combines Shakespeare’s and Petrarch’s forms Three quatrains and a couplet (like Shakespeare) Interlocking rhyme scheme (like Petrarch): abab bcbc cdcd ee

Quick Quiz: Petrarchan, Shakespearean, or Spenserian? Let me not to the marriage of true minds (a Admit impediments, love is not love (b) Which alters when it alteration finds, (a) Or bends with the remover to remove. (b) O no, it is an ever fixed mark (c) That looks on tempests and is never shaken; (d) It is the star to every wand'ring bark, (c) Whose worth's unknown although his height be taken. (d) Love's not time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks (e) Within his bending sickle's compass come, (f) Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks, (e) But bears it out even to the edge of doom: (f) If this be error and upon me proved, (g) I never writ, nor no man ever loved. (g)

Yes! Shakespearean! The give-away is the distinctive rhyme scheme with the couplet volta at the end: abab cdcd efef gg

Try Again! Milton! thou shouldst be living at this hour: (a) England hath need of thee: she is a fen (b) Of stagnant waters: altar, sword, and pen, (b) Fireside, the heroic wealth of hall and bower, (a) Have forfeited their ancient English dower (a) Of inward happiness. We are selfish men; (b) Oh! raise us up, return to us again; (b) And give us manners, virtue, freedom, power. (a) Thy soul was like a Star, and dwelt apart; (c) Thou hadst a voice whose sound was like the sea: (d) Pure as the naked heavens, majestic, free, (d) So didst thou travel on life's common way, (e) In cheerful godliness; and yet thy heart (c) The lowliest duties on herself did lay. (e)

Right! Petrarchan! The key is the volta at the sestet on line 9. The octave and sestet format is the hallmark of a Petrarchan sonnet.

The Sonnet Form The End