1. Introduction to the ‘Elizabethan Sonnet’

2. What does the term ‘sonnet’ mean?
From Italian word “sonetto” meaning “little song”
A form of poetry invented in Italy in the 13th century. In the 16th century, the sonnet became more popular among English poets and the form was slightly modified in rhyme and metre. William Shakespeare was very fond of the sonnet form and wrote at least 154 different sonnets during his lifetime.
What is a sonnet?

3. What is the structure of a sonnet?
A sonnet is written in fourteen lines. The fourteen lines are arranged into 4 different stanzas.
The sonnet uses 3 quatrain stanzas and 1 couplet stanza:
Quatrain (4 lines)
Couplet +(2 lines)
________________________
=14 lines

4. What is the rhyme scheme of a sonnet?
ABAB
CDCD
EFEF GG

5. How does a sonnet use Iambic Pentameter?
Each line should have 10 syllables in total.
Each line is then broken into 5 feet.
A foot: a unit of rhythmic measure consisting of two syllables.
Iamb: a type of foot that has one unstressed (weak) syllable followed by a stressed (strong) syllable:
Ex. “Be/tween”
When reading, iambic pentameter sounds like:
“Da dum, da dum, da dum, da dum, da dum.”

6. See an example: Iambic pattern
Shall/ I / com/ pare/ thee/ to/ a/ sum/ mer's/ day?
10 syllables
(Thou art) (more love)(ly and) (more tem) (perate)
5 feet
(Rough winds) (do shake) (the dar) (ling buds) (of May,)
Iambic pattern
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 wand'rest 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.

7. Sonnet Themes
Elizabethan sonnets often present a conflict or idea in the three quatrains
The rhyming couplet summarizes the idea or produces a solution to the conflict
These sonnets are therefore also called Shakespearean sonnets
In Shakespeare’s time, sonnets were mostly about love and deception

8. Shakespeare’s sonnet #18
Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? (a) Thou art more lovely and more temperate: (b) Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, (a) And summer's lease hath all too short a date: (b) Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines, (c) And often is his gold complexion dimmed, (d) And every fair from fair sometime declines, (c) By chance, or nature's changing course untrimmed: (d) But thy eternal summer shall not fade, (e) Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st, (f) Nor shall death brag thou wand'rest in his shade, (e) When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st, (f) So long as men can breathe or eyes can see, (g) So long lives this, and this gives life to thee. (g)

9. Say what? I think I will compare you to a summer day
But, you know, you're prettier and even better - more calm
Because sometimes it gets windy and the buds on the trees get shaken off
And sometimes summer doesn't last very long
Sometimes it's too hot
And everything gorgeous loses its looks
By chance or just because everyone and everything gets old and ugly and shabby
BUT (and here's the turn) you're going to keep your looks forever
Your beauty will last forever
And that old Death can never brag about owning you
Because I will write this poem about you
As long as people can breathe and see,
Then this poem lives, and it gives life and memory to your beauty.

10. Prelude to Romeo and Juliet
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-crossed lovers take their life,
Whose misadventured piteous overthrows
Doth with their death bury their parents' strife.
The fearful passage of their death-marked love
And the continuance of their parents' rage,
Which, but their children’s end, naught 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

11. In the beautiful city of Verona, where our story takes place, a long-standing hatred between two families erupts into new violence, and citizens stain their hands with the blood of their fellow citizens. Two unlucky children of these enemy families become lovers and commit suicide. Their unfortunate deaths put an end to their parents' feud. For the next two hours, we will watch the story of their doomed love and their parents' anger, which nothing but the children’s deaths could stop. If you listen to us patiently, we’ll make up for everything we’ve left out in this prologue onstage.

12. Modern-day sonnets can be about almost anything…
My high-school life has left me without sleep. I study every night locked in my room. The loneliness does cause my soul to weep, The walls at times feel almost like a tomb. My social life has vanished in the haze That drifts about me when I think of love, And hours do creep by in a blurry daze With hope of romance stolen from above. My health is really starting to erode. I cannot walk and talk ‘cause I must pant And wheeze because my bod cannot the load Endure; and as to run, well I just can’t. So from the doctor I must seek some help. I bet he will suggest I eat some kelp.