1. Origin of the Sonnet
A sonnet is a 14-line lyric poem with a complicated rhyme scheme.

2. Origin of the Sonnet
A sonnet is a 14-line lyric poem with a complicated rhyme scheme.
Because of the technical skill required to write a sonnet, the form has challenged English poets for hundreds of years.

3. Origin of the Sonnet
A sonnet is a 14-line lyric poem with a complicated rhyme scheme.
Because of the technical skill required to write a sonnet, the form has challenged English poets for hundreds of years.
Sonnet comes from the world “little song.”

4. Petrarchan sonnet

5. Petrarchan sonnet
The great Italian poet Petrarch perfected the Italian sonnet (Petrarchan Sonnet).

6. Petrarchan Sonnet
The great Italian poet Petrarch perfected the Italian sonnet (Petrarchan Sonnet).
He thought the melody of a sonnet was perfect for love poems.

7. Petrarchan Sonnet
The great Italian poet Petrarch perfected the Italian sonnet (Petrarchan Sonnet).
He thought the melody of a sonnet was perfect for love poems.
Petrarch wrote over 300 sonnets
detailing his devotion to
a beautiful but unobtainable
lady, whom he called Laura.

8. English Sonnet
Shakespearean Sonnet

9. English Sonnet
The English Sonnet begins with Sir Thomas Wyatt—another devoted, love poet.

10. English Sonnet
The English Sonnet begins with Sir Thomas Wyatt—another devoted, love poet.
It was rumored that Wyatt was in love with queen Anne Boleyn.

11. English Sonnet– Fun Fact!
Henry VIII, although brutal to his wives, encouraged the poetry of courtly love and so welcomed the sonnet as a poetic form.

12. Shakespearean Sonnet
The English Sonnet soon became the Shakespearean Sonnet because William Shakespeare used it with such distinction.

13. Shakespearean Sonnet
Instead of limited himself to the subject of love, he introduced deep philosophical issues and perplexing ironies.

14. What makes a Poem a Sonnet
Length
14 lines
Subject
Meter
Structure/Rhyme Scheme

15. What makes a Poem a Sonnet
Length
14 lines
Subject
A lyrical nature– a focus on personal feelings and thoughts
Meter
Structure/Rhyme Scheme

16. What makes a Poem a Sonnet
Length
14 lines
Subject
A lyrical nature– a focus on personal feelings and thoughts
Meter
Iambic pentameter lines– lines containing five metrical units, each consisting of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable
Structure/Rhyme Scheme

17. What makes a Poem a Sonnet
Length
14 lines
Subject
A lyrical nature– a focus on personal feelings and thoughts
Meter
Iambic pentameter lines– lines containing five metrical units, each consisting of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable
Structure/Rhyme Scheme
A particular structure and rhyme scheme, Petrarchan or Shakesperean.

18. Differences Petrarchan Shakespearean
AABBAABBA (octave) CDCDCD (sestet)
ABAB (quatrain) CDCD (quatrain) EFEF (quatrain) GG (couplet)
Octave:
Sestet:
1st quatrain:
2nd quatrain:
3rd quatrain:
Couplet:

19. Differences Petrarchan Shakespearean
AABBAABBA (octave) CDCDCD (sestet)
ABAB (quatrain) CDCD (quatrain) EFEF (quatrain) GG (couplet)
Octave: establishes the speaker’s situation
Sestet:
1st quatrain:
2nd quatrain:
3rd quatrain:
Couplet:

20. Differences Petrarchan Shakespearean
AABBAABBA (octave) CDCDCD (sestet)
ABAB (quatrain) CDCD (quatrain) EFEF (quatrain) GG (couplet)
Octave: establishes the speaker’s situation
Sestet: resolves, draws conclusions about, or expresses a reaction to the situation
1st quatrain:
2nd quatrain:
3rd quatrain:
Couplet:

21. Differences Petrarchan Shakespearean
AABBAABBA (octave) CDCDCD (sestet)
ABAB (quatrain) CDCD (quatrain) EFEF (quatrain) GG (couplet)
Octave: establishes the speaker’s situation
Sestet: resolves, draws conclusions about, or expresses a reaction to the situation
1st quatrain: Introduces situation
2nd quatrain:
3rd quatrain:
Couplet:

22. Differences Petrarchan Shakespearean
AABBAABBA (octave) CDCDCD (sestet)
ABAB (quatrain) CDCD (quatrain) EFEF (quatrain) GG (couplet)
Octave: establishes the speaker’s situation
Sestet: resolves, draws conclusions about, or expresses a reaction to the situation
1st quatrain: Introduces situation
2nd quatrain: Introduces situation
3rd quatrain:
Couplet:

23. Differences Petrarchan Shakespearean
AABBAABBA (octave) CDCDCD (sestet)
ABAB (quatrain) CDCD (quatrain) EFEF (quatrain) GG (couplet)
Octave: establishes the speaker’s situation
Sestet: resolves, draws conclusions about, or expresses a reaction to the situation
1st quatrain: Introduces situation
2nd quatrain: Introduces situation
3rd quatrain: A turn or shift in thought
Couplet:

24. Differences Petrarchan Shakespearean
AABBAABBA (octave) CDCDCD (sestet)
ABAB (quatrain) CDCD (quatrain) EFEF (quatrain) GG (couplet)
Octave: establishes the speaker’s situation
Sestet: resolves, draws conclusions about, or expresses a reaction to the situation
1st quatrain: Introduces situation
2nd quatrain: Introduces situation
3rd quatrain: A turn or shift in thought
Couplet: The resolution of the situation

25. Strategies for Reading
Read the sonnet several times.
Use letters to label the rhyme scheme.
Identify the major units of thought or feeling.
Describe the situation introduced in the first part of the sonnet.
Paraphrase the speaker’s final resolution of, conclusions about, or reaction to the situation.
Study the imagery and figurative language for clues to the emotions expressed.

26. Shakespearean Sonnet: 73
That time of year though mayst in me behold When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang Upon those boughts which shake against the cold, Bare ruined choirs, where late the sweet birds sang

27. Shakespearean Sonnet: 73
In me thou see’st the twilight of such day As after sunset fadeth in the west; Which by and by black night doth take away, Death’s second self, that seals up all in rest.

28. Shakespearean Sonnet: 73
In me though see’st the glowing of such fire, That on the ashes of his youth doth lie, As the deathbed whereon it must expire, Consumed with that which it has nourished by.

29. Shakespearean Sonnet: 73
This though perceiv’st, which makes thy love more strong, To love that well which though must leave ere long.

30. Reminder
Bring your book tomorrow!