1. Shakespeare’s Sonnets (1609)

4. Poetry
Queen Elizabeth reigned , but her period was so influential that the Elizabethan style of poetry extends into the mid-1600s.

5. Sonnets
Petrarchan Sonnet (made famous by Francesco Petrarch, ): 14 lines Octave: 8 lines (a-b-b-a, a-b-b-a) Sestet: 6 lines (c-d-e, c-d-e) English / Shakespearean Sonnet: 14 lines 3 verses: (a-b-a-b, c-d-c-d, e-f-e-f) Couplet: (g-g) Period of popularity:

6. Themes
Elaborate, sophisticated vocabulary: artifice, not naturality (also in music)
Love: Forbidden love, young love, poems of pleading
Aristocratic and classical / heroic subjects
Startling, extreme, or sexual comparisons or imagery
Poems written in court circles for promotions, patrons, or royal favor
Poems generally written by aristocrats for small audiences
Devotional and religious poems

7. Shakespeare’s Sonnets (1593-97)
- Possibly written during a plague summer (1596) when theaters were closed for public safety
- Was Shakespeare bored, or did he have a patron?
- Who is the fair youth? Who is the dark lady? Or are they just topics?
- The sonnets were published without Shakespeare’s consent. Why?