1. The Sonnet

2. Definition A sonnet is: A sonnet has: A fourteen-line poem
A set rhyme scheme
A set number of syllables in each line – usually 10
This 10-syllable per
line structure is called
iambic pentameter

3. Meter Meter involves the rhythm established by a poem
Usually dependent not only on the number of syllables in a line, but also on the way those syllables are accented
This rhythm is often described as a pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables
The rhythmic unit is often described as a foot
A foot may be iambic, which follows a pattern of unstressed/stressed syllables

4. Iambic Pentameter
A line of iambic pentameter is a line of poetry which follows a pattern of weak and strong stresses:
weak STRONG / weak STRONG / weak STRONG / weak STRONG / weak STRONG
An iamb is one of the “weak STRONG” units
“Penta” means five - iambic pentameter has 5 iambs
One iamb = One foot (a foot is a repeating segment used to build a line of poetry)
One line of iambic pentameter has five feet (10 syllables)

5. Sonnet Terms
Stanza – recurring unit of a poem, consisting of a group of verses
Couplet – two lines rhyming together (simplest form)
Quatrain – stanza of four lines
Octave – two quatrains (eight lines)
Tercet - three lines
Sestet – two tercets (six lines)

6. History of the Sonnet
Originated in the Middle Ages in Italy and France
Main form of English poetry in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries
Revived several times from the early-nineteenth century to the present
Usually focuses on expressing intense feelings and emotions

7. Francesco Petrarch 1304-1374: Italian
Many early English sonnets were simply Petrarchan sonnets in translation
Petrarch’s sonnets written to “Laura” – his great love
Love poems
Petrarch

8. Petrarchan Sonnet (Italian)
Petrarchan Conceit - Comparison made generally by a suffering lover of his beautiful and cruel mistress to a physical object
Petrarch explores the contrary states of feelings a lover experiences as he desires and idolises an unattainable lady
Some conventional themes concern the lady’s great beauty, her power over him, her cruelty to him, his sleeplessness, or the pain of her absence

9. Petrarchan Purpose
The Petrarchan Sonnet is often a poem with two points to make
One in the octave and one in the sestet
Generally, the octave states the main idea of the poem

10. Petrarchan Purpose, cont’d
The sestet:
Illustrates the idea from the octave
Provides an application or example of the idea from the octave
Reverses the main idea and achieves a paradox or irony in the poem
Or, the poem may merely balance two arguments, one in the octave and one in the sestet

11. The Petrarchan Volta
The change in idea from the octave to the sestet is called the “turn” or the “volta”
It occurs at the beginning of line 9

12. Petrarchan Rhyme Scheme
B 1st quatrain B
 Octave (meditation or exploration of a problem or an issue)
B 2nd quatrain
Volta (turn)
C C C
D 1st tercet D D
E C E
or or  Sestet (resolution)
C D C
D 2nd tercet C E
E D D

13. Example: John Milton, “When I Consider How My Light is Spent”
Ere half my days in this dark world and wide,
And that one talent which is death to hide
Lodged with me useless, though my soul more bent
To serve therewith my Maker, and present
My true account, lest He returning chide;
"Doth God exact day-labor, light denied?"
I fondly ask. But Patience, to prevent
That murmur, soon replies, "God doth not need
Either man's work or His own gifts. Who best
Bear His mild yoke, they serve Him best. His state
Is kingly: thousands at His bidding speed,
And post o'er land and ocean without rest;
They also serve who only stand and wait."

14. William Shakespeare (English)
1564 – 1616
Innovations in sonnet form and content
Sonnet Cycle (untitled)
-154 sonnets
-most written by
-published in 1609
-three characters (poet, beautiful youth, dark lady)
William Shakespeare

15. Shakespearean Sonnet
Shakespeare’s sonnet moods included delight, pride, melancholy, shame, disgust, and fear
The vocabulary is usually simple and the metaphorical style is rich

16. Purpose The Shakespearean Sonnet has two main purposes:
It can set up brief, cumulative images
It can make a three-step argument
The rhyming couplet is usually a quick summary at the end
This is the Shakespearean version of the volta

17. Shakespearean Rhyme Scheme
B 1st quatrain B C
D 2nd quatrain D E
F 3rd quatrain F
Volta (turn) G
G couplet (resolution involves a compressed statement)

18. Example: William Shakespeare, “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 fixèd mark
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wand'ring 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.