1. Introduction to Sonnet
Origin: Italy; from the Italian word sonetto
Inventor: Giacomo de Lentini
Definition: A lyric poem consisting of a single stanza of 14 iambic pentameter lines linked by an intricate rhyme scheme.
Generally deal with the expression of emotion, especially love.

2. Types Two main types of Sonnets
Italian or Petrarchan sonnet: named after the 14th century Italian humanist Francesco Petrarca, commonly anglicized as Petrarch.
English or Shakespearean sonnet: named after the famous English poet and dramatist William Shakespeare.

3. Petrarchan Sonnet
Divided into two parts: first part octave, 2nd part sestet
Octave consists of first 8 lines rhyming abbaabba
Sestet consists of last 6 lines rhyming cdecde or some variant such as cdccdc
Typically the 9th line initiates what is called the “turn” or “volta”. It signals the move from proposition to resolution

4. Shakespearean sonnet
Divided into three quatrains and a concluding couplet.
Rhyme scheme: abab cdcd efef gg
Shakespeare has written 154 sonnets

5. Shakespeare’s Sonnets - Structure
Often, 1st quatrain introduces situation
2nd & 3rd quatrains explore situation
Often a turn or shift in thought occurs at the 3rd quatrain or at the couplet.
Couplet resolves the situation (punch line)

6. Sonnet 18 as specimen by Shakespeare
1st Quatrain: Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate: Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, And summer’s lease hath all too short a date: 2nd Quatrain 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: 3rd Quatrain But thy eternal summer shall not fade, Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st, Nor shall death rag thou wand’rest in his shade, When in eternal lines to time thou grow’st, Concluding couplet: So long as men can breathe or eyes can see, So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

7. Thank you
Tomorrow we will be discussing about Shakespeare’s sonnet No. 13. Prepared by Mukhtar Ahmad Dar Assistant Professor (English) GDC Tral