1. Honors Day 30 Macbeth Sonnets—check in on 29, look at form Act II
Based on what we read In Act I, try to answer the Big Questions for the world of the play:
What makes a tragedy?
How is Fate involved in our lives?
What is a real man?
What are the true effects of evil?
What is courage?
Act II
Hollinshead Chronicles
Entrance Slip for Monday: Summary Acts I & 2
Scanning Assignment Due Monday
Test, Close Reading Essay Due Monday, Jan. 14
Discuss playing with sonnet form—”Golden Retrievals”

2. Sonnet Form
Sonnet: a strict and controlled poetic form. The form adds meaning to the text because the poet chose to write a sonnet with its form in mind.
Sonnets have fourteen (14) lines written in iambic pentameter.
Italian or Petrarchan Sonnets
The fourteen lines are split into
an octave (the first eight lines) followed by
a sestet (the last six lines)
The octave is most often has the rhyme scheme abbaabba,
but can also be rhymed abbacddc,
rarely it is rhymed abababab.
The sestet can be rhymed cdecde or cdcdcd.

3. Types of Sonnets
In Petrarchan sonnets, the problem or main idea is set up in the octave. There is a turn at the beginning of the sestet that releases the tension in the sonnet or changes the approach of the sonnet.
Elizabethan or English or Shakespearean Sonnets
The fourteen lines are split into
three quatrains (four lines each) followed by
couplet (two rhymed lines)
The rhyme scheme is abab cdcd efef gg.

4. In Shakespearean sonnets, there are many different possibilities for organizing the ideas in the poem. Some sonnets present a problem in the first quatrain, complicate the problem in the second quatrain, and resolve the problem in the couplet.
It can be hard to tell Shakespearean and Petrarchan sonnets apart, so make sure to take note of the rhyme scheme and punctuation when trying to determine what type a sonnet is. Sometimes lines are split into sonnets in a way that is misleading.