The Wide World of Sonnets

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• The Wide World of Sonnets

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What is a Sonnet?

• 14 lines
• means a little song
• Italian and English Sonnets (a.k.a. Petrarchan
  and Shakespearean sonnet)
• Sonnets have been written in every era since
  1530.

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Italian Sonnet?

• Remember the 14 lines--your best clue that youre
  looking at a sonnet
• first 8 lines called an Octave
• The Octave sets up a situation
• final 6 lines are called a Sestet
• The Sestet comments on the situation established
  in the Octave

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The Octave
Nuns fret not at their convent's narrow room And
hermits are contented with their cells And
students with their pensive citadels Maids at
the wheel, the weaver at his loom, Sit blithe
and happy bees that soar for bloom, High as the
highest Peak of Furness-fells, Will murmur by
the hour in foxglove bells In truth the prison,
into which we doom
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The Sestet
Ourselves, no prison is and hence for me, In
sundry moods, 'twas pastime to be bound Within
the Sonnet's scanty plot of ground Pleased if
some Souls (for such there needs must be) Who
have felt the weight of too much liberty, Should
find brief solace there, as I have found.
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Nuns Fret Not at Their Convent's Narrow
Room Nuns fret not at their convent's narrow
room And hermits are contented with their cells
And students with their pensive citadels Maids
at the wheel, the weaver at his loom, Sit blithe
and happy bees that soar for bloom, High as the
highest Peak of Furness-fells, Will murmur by
the hour in foxglove bells In truth the prison,
into which we doom Ourselves, no prison is and
hence for me, In sundry moods, 'twas pastime to
be bound Within the Sonnet's scanty plot of
ground Pleased if some Souls (for such there
needs must be) Who have felt the weight of too
much liberty, Should find brief solace there, as
I have found.
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And the Shakespearean sonnet?

• Again, 14 lines
• typically in three quatrains (4 lines) with a
  rhymed couplet at the end
• each quatrain poses a question or sets a scene
• the couplet draws things to a quick resolution

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A Sonnet
First Quatrain
My mistress eyes are nothing like the sun Coral
is far more red than her lips red If snow be
white, why then her breasts are dun If hairs be
wires, black wires grow on her head.
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second quatrain
I have seen roses damaskd, red and white, But no
such roses see I in her cheeks, And in some
perfumes is three more delight Than in the breath
that from my mistress reeks.
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third quatrain
I love to hear her speak, yet well I know That
music hath a far more pleasing sound I grant I
never saw a goddess go, My mistress when she
walks treads on the ground.
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heres the kicker! (the couplet)
And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare As
any she belied with false compare.
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So put it all together

• My mistress eyes are nothing like the sun
• Coral is far more red than her lips red
• If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun
• If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.
• I have seen roses damaskd, red and white,
• But no such roses see I in her cheeks,
• And in some perfumes is there more delight
• Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.
• I love to hear her speak, yet well I know
• That music hath a far more pleasing sound
• I grant I never saw a goddess go,
• My mistress when she walks treads on the ground.
• And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare
• As any she belied with false compare.

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Recognizing sonnet rhyme.

• Petrarchan Sonnets typically have a rhyme scheme
  of a. b. b. a. a. b. b. a. c. d. e. c. d. e.
• Shakespearean Sonnets sound like a. b. a. b. c.
  d. c. d. e. f. e. f. g. g.
• Note the rhymed couplet ending Shakespearean
  Sonnets

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Why are Shakespeares sonnets so famous?

• Shakespeare inherited a Drab tradition and turned
  it into Gold
• Drab When dreadful death with dint of piercing
  dart
• Golden My Mistress eyes are nothing like the
  sun
• Shakespeare took what was sappy and made it
  interesting.

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Whats Next?

• Think of some BIG themes.
• Start jotting down words, lines, ideas for your
  own sonnet.
• WRITE your own Sonnet!
• Dont forget to use the tools that weve already
  learned (imagery, metaphor, alliteration,
  consonance, etc.)

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The sonnets meter

• While sonnets have been set at 8 beats per line,
  Shakespeare and others set theirs in iambic
  pentameter--5 feet, 10 beats per line,
  unstressed-stressed unstressed-stressed
• Example When dreadful death with dint of
  piercing dart My Mistress eyes are nothing
  like the sun
• da-DUM da-DUM da-DUM da-DUM da-DUM