1. The Sonnet Form

2. History of the Sonnet form
Originated in Italy circa 13th century
Petrarch credited with perfecting the form
Sir Thomas Wyatt and Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey bring it to England in 1500’s after traveling in Italy.
Wyatt and Surrey modify the form
In late 16th century popularized by Sir Philip Sidney, Edmund Spenser, William Shakespeare, John Donne and others.
Spenser modifies the form creating a 3rd form.
Revived in the Romantic period ( ) by Wordsworth
Dante Gabriel and Christina Rossetti use the form in the 19th century.

3. Famous writers of Sonnets
Francesco Petrarch
Sir Thomas Wyatt
Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey
Edmund Spenser
William Shakespeare
John Donne
William Wordsworth
Elizabeth Barrett Browning
And many, many others

4. Two major forms, one minor
Shakespearean (English, Elizabethan) Petrarchan (Italian) Spenserian
All sonnets must have:
14 lines
Traditionally iambic pentameter
A rhyme scheme

5. Petrarchan or Italian Sonnet
An octave (8 lines) and a sestet (6 lines)
Rhyme scheme:
ABABCDCD for octave
CDCDCD or CDECDE or other variations for sestet
Distinct break between octave and sestet, sometimes called a turn. Octave presents a subject and the sestet reflects on it, or a proposal and response or a problem and resolution.

6. Shakespearean, English, Elizabethan
3 quatrains and a rhyming couplet
ABABCDCDEFEFGG
First quatrain introduces the subject
Second and third quatrains develop the subject or introduce a conflict
Couplet resolves or offers a comment or summary statement
First quatrain introduces the subject
Second and third quatrains develop the subject or introduce a conflict
Couplet resolves or offers a comment or summary statement
Or each quatrain could contain a point to an argument which is resolved in the couplet.

7. Spenserian Sonnet
Rhyme scheme:
ABAB,BCBC,CDCD,EE

8. METER
2 syllable feet are: Iamb: unaccented/accented (destroy) Trochee: accented/unaccented (topsy) 3 syllable feet are: Anapest: unaccented/unaccented/accented (intervene) Dactyl: accented/unaccented/unaccented (merrily)
Foot is the basic unit of measurement in poetry.
A food consists of two or more accented and unaccented syllables.
Special feet:
Spondee: accented/accented (hum-drum)

9. Line length One foot: Monometer Two feet: Dimeter Three feet: Trimeter
Four feet: Tetrameter
Five feet: Pentameter
Six feet: Hexameter
Seven feet: Heptameter
Eight feet: Octameter

10. Composed Upon Westminster Bridge -William Wordsworth
Earth has not anything to show more fair: Dull would he be of soul who could pass by A sight so touching in its majesty: This City now doth, like a garment, wear The beauty of the morning; silent, bare, Ships, towers, domes, theatres, and temples lie Open unto the fields, and to the sky; All bright and glittering in the smokeless air. Never did sun more beautifully steep In his first splendour, valley, rock, or hill; Ne’er saw I, never felt, a calm so deep! The river glideth at his own sweet will: Dear God! the very houses seem asleep; And all that mighty heart is lying still!

11. Dawn in New York Claude McKay
The Dawn! The Dawn! The crimson-tinted, comes Out of the low still skies, over the hills, Manhattan's roofs and spires and cheerless domes! The Dawn! My spirit to its spirit thrills. Almost the mighty city is asleep, No pushing crowd, no tramping, tramping feet. But here and there a few cars groaning creep Along, above, and underneath the street, Bearing their strangely-ghostly burdens by, The women and the men of garish nights, Their eyes wine-weakened and their clothes awry, Grotesques beneath the strong electric lights. The shadows wane. The Dawn comes to New York. And I go darkly-rebel to my work.