1. The Sonnet
Creative Writing I

2. Petrarchan Sonnet
Created by Francesco Petrarcha who published 366 poems about his idealized lover, Laura. It wove a narrative Tale from poem to poem.

3. Petrarchan Example
Soleasi Nel Mio Cor She ruled in beauty o'er this heart of mine, A noble lady in a humble home, And now her time for heavenly bliss has come, 'Tis I am mortal proved, and she divine. The soul that all its blessings must resign, And love whose light no more on earth finds room, Might rend the rocks with pity for their doom, Yet none their sorrows can in words enshrine; They weep within my heart; and ears are deaf Save mine alone, and I am crushed with care, And naught remains to me save mournful breath. Assuredly but dust and shade we are, Assuredly desire is blind and brief, Assuredly its hope but ends in death.

4. Rules of Petrarcha 14 line verse poem
The octave sets up a problem which the sestet then solves
Line 9 turns from the prior information (volta) using a transitional word (but, yet, etc)
The octave follows: ABBAABBA
The sestet can follow any of the following:
CDCDCD
CDDCDC
CDECDE
CDECED
CDCEDC
Often employs hyperbole

5. Your Petrarchan Sonnet: Over the Top
Select a person who is imperfect
Create metaphors/similes to highlight their flaws
Build a Petrarchan sonnet that celebrates their flaws through figurative language in the octave
Decide whether or not to “love them anyway” within your sestet

6. Spenserian Sonnet
Created by Edmund Spenser, who was modifying PetrarchA’s original form into English. His form did not catch on as others did.

7. Spenserian Example
One day I wrote her name upon the strand; But came the waves, and washed it away: Again, I wrote it with a second hand; But came the tide, and made my pains his prey. Vain man, said she, that dost in vain assay A mortal thing so to immortalize; For I myself shall like to this decay, And eke my name be wiped out likewise. Not so, quoth I; let baser things devise To die in dust, but you shall live by fame: My verse your virtues rare shall eternize, And in the heavens write your glorious name. Where, whenas death shall all the world subdue, Our love shall live, and later life renew.

8. Rules of Spenser 14 line verse poem
Grouped as 3 quatrains and a couplet
Rhyme scheme is ABAB BCBC CDCD EE
The quatrains detail 3 distinct, but closely related ideas, then the couplet touches a different idea or conclusion, using a transitional word (but, yet, etc.)

9. Your Spenserian Sonnet: On Love
Since Spenser uses a lot of repeating sounds, you may write this one in another language – if you know one… (it must make sense in English, but need not follow the rhyme scheme in it)
Make a list of traits that romantic love should have
Choose three to SHOW within your three quatrains
Design your couplet as a reflection on what romantic love is to you as a whole

10. Shakespearean Sonnet
Created by Shakespeare, a contemporary of Spenser, who also worked to translate Petrarchan sonnets so they worked in English.

11. Shakespearean Example
SONNET 116 Let me not to the marriage of true minds Admit impediments. Love is not love Which alters when it alteration finds, Or bends with the remover to remove: O no! it is an ever-fixed mark That looks on tempests and is never shaken; It is the star to every wandering bark, Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken. Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks Within his bending sickle's compass come: Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks, But bears it out even to the edge of doom. If this be error and upon me proved, I never writ, nor no man ever loved.

12. Rules of Shakespeare 14 line verse poem
Grouped as 3 quatrains and a couplet
Rhyme scheme is ABAB CDCD EFEF GG
The volta may fall either on line 9 or 13

13. Your Shakespearean Sonnet: On Point
Create a list of people who would have opposite opinions on a common subject (missionary/atheist on the power of prayer)
Select one pair to use and flesh out what their views on the topic would be
Select one side as the speaker’s voice shifting to the other opinion with the volta at line 9 (but you) shifting to the other view
The couplet can sum up, reflect on the other side, reiterate the initial point, etc.