1. The sonnet Beowulf Performer - Culture & Literature
Marina Spiazzi, Marina Tavella,
Margaret Layton © 2012

2. 1. Main characteristics A fourteen-line poem in iambic pentameter.
A carefully patterned rhyme scheme.
Invented by the Italian Iacopo da Lentini in the first half of the 13th century.
Introduced into England by Sir Thomas Wyatt.
Petrarchan
Two types of sonnet
Shakespearean
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3. 2. Petrarchan sonnet An octave rhyming ABBAABBA;
a sestet rhyming CDECDE or CDCDCD;
a turning point at the end of the 8th line;
the 9th line is sometimes introduced by words like:
and, if, so, but, yet.
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4. 2. Petrarchan sonnet The octave has the purpose to:
The Sonnet
2. Petrarchan sonnet
The octave has the purpose to:
introduce a problem (the poet describes his being struck with the sight of his woman);
express a desire;
reflect on reality;
present a situation that causes either doubt or conflict in the poet.
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5. 2. Petrarchan sonnet The first quatrain introduces the problem;
The Sonnet
2. Petrarchan sonnet
The first quatrain introduces the problem;
the second quatrain develops it:
The lively sparks that issue from those eyes,
Against the which there vaileth no defence,
Have pierced my heart, and done it none offence,
With quaking pleasure more than once or twice.
Was never man could any thing devise,
Sunbeams to turn with so great vehemence
To daze man’s sight, as by their bright presence
Dazed am I; much like unto the guise
(Sir Thomas Wyatt, The Lively Sparks)
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6. The Sonnet
2. Petrarchan sonnet
The beginning of the sestet is known as the volta, and it introduces a pronounced change in tone in the sonnet.
The sestet’s purpose is to make a comment on the problem or to apply a solution to it.
Of one stricken with dint of lightning,
Blind with the stroke, and cying1 here and there:
So call I for help, I not2 when nor where,
The pain of my fall patiently bearing:
For straight after the blaze, as is no wonder,
Of deadly noise hear I the fearful thunder.
(Sir Thomas Wyatt, The Lively Sparks)
1. Or, erring.
2. I.e. known not.
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7. 3. Shakespearean sonnet Three quatrains rhyming ABABCDCDEFEF;
a couplet rhyming EE;
a turning point at the end of the 8th line;
the 9th line is sometimes introduced by words like: and, if, so, but, yet, nor.
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8. 3. Shakespearean sonnet The first quatrain introduces an idea:
The Sonnet
3. Shakespearean sonnet
The first quatrain introduces an idea:
When my love swears that she is made of truth
I do believe her, though I know she lies,
That she might think me some untutor‘d youth,
Unlearned in the world's false subtleties.
The second quatrain complicates it:
Thus vainly thinking that she thinks me young,
Although she knows my days are past the best,
Simply I credit her false speaking tongue:
On both sides thus is simple truth suppress’d.
(W. Shakespeare, Sonnet 138)
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9. The Sonnet
3. Shakespearean sonnet
The third quatrain complicates it still further:
But wherefore says she not she is unjust?
And wherefore say not I that I am old?
O, love’s best habit is in seeming trust,
And age in love loves not to have years told.
The final epigrammatic couplet resolves the whole thing:
Therefore I lie with her and she with me,
And in our faults by lies we flatter’d be.
(W. Shakespeare, Sonnet 138)
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10. 4. Table of comparison Petrarchan sonnet Shakespearean sonnet
The Sonnet
4. Table of comparison
Petrarchan sonnet
Shakespearean sonnet
14 lines of iambic pentameter
Division into 2 sections:
the octave presents a problem
or situation and the sestet solves
or clarifies the situation
Division into 4 sections: 
3 quatrains that present
a problem or situation and
a couplet that solves or summarises the problem
Rhyme scheme of  ABABABAB or ABBAABBA for the octave; CDECDE or CDCDEE for the sestet
Rhyme scheme of 
ABAB quatrain I
CDCD quatrain II
EFEF quatrain III
GG couplet
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