THE SONNET

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THE SONNET

• little song

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WHAT IS IT?

• A 14 line poem written in iambic pentameter
• Originated in Italy in the 13th century. Named
  after Petrarch though invented by some other
  Italian. (317)
• Introduced to English Lit by Sir Thomas Wyatt

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IAMBIC HUH?

• A meter in poetry - Each line contains TEN
  syllables, five of which are stressed
• Example
• When for/ty win/ters shall/ besiege/ thy brow
• - An IAMB is an unstressed syllable followed by a
  stressed, creating a metric foot.
• What is its purpose?

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Sonnets are all the RAGE!!

• First sonnet cycle published in 1591 starts vogue
  (cycle?)
• Edmund Spenser, Shakespeare, even Elizabeth I
  jump on the sonnet bandwagon!
• Central theme tends to be unrequited love!- often
  hyperbolize womens characteristics

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The Italian or Petrarchan Sonnet

• Rhyme scheme divides sonnet into octave (first 8
  lines) and a sestet (last six lines)
• Octave Rhyme Scheme abbaabba OR abababab
• Sestet Rhyme Scheme cdecde OR cdccdc
• First 8 lines usually present a problem then
  there is a volta or turn in the 9th line where
  the poem proceeds to solve the problem presented.

• Almost NEVER ends in a rhyming pair though
  English poets did it anyway

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The Shakespearean or English Sonnet

• Organized in three groups of alternating lines
  called QUATRAINS with a rhyming COUPLET at the
  end.
• Rhyme Scheme abab cdcd
• efef gg
• - Shakespeare didnt actually develop this (Henry
  Howard)

• Sidenote Spenserian sonnets also exist though
  they are less important historically he loved
  to invent his own complicated poetry

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Shakespeares Sonnet Cycle

• Published in 1609 / 154 Sonnets in the cycle
• Suggest a story- first 126 addressed to a young
  man of great beauty/promise urging him to have
  children and warning him of the decay of time,
  age, and moral weakness ( 78-86 are concerned
  with a rival poet who has also addressed poems to
  the young man)
• Sonnets 127-154 are addressed to a young lady
  whom the young man previously mentioned seems to
  be involved with romantically along with the
  speaker
• Universal themes TIME, DEATH, LOVE, BEAUTY,
  MORAL INTEGRITY, POETRY

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Why the SONNET?

• Strictly controlled and predetermined form
• Intrinsic beauty
• Challenge
• Shape, emphasis, organization

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Sonnet as Argument

• A sonnet is also an argument it builds up a
  certain way.
• It is built up in relation to its metaphors and
  how it moves from one metaphor to the next.
• In a Shakespearean sonnet, the argument builds up
  like this
• First 4 lines An exposition of the main theme
  and main metaphor.
• Second 4 Theme and metaphor extended or
  complicated often, some imaginative example is
  given.
• Third 4 A twist or conflict is often introduced
  by a "but" (very often leading off the ninth
  line).
• Couplet Summarizes and leaves the reader with a
  new, concluding image.

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• READ YOUR SONNET

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Argument of Sonnet 18

• First 4 Shakespeare establishes the theme of
  comparing "thou" (or "you") to a summer's day,
  and why to do so is a bad idea. The metaphor is
  made by comparing his beloved to summer itself.
• Second 4 Shakespeare extends the theme,
  explaining why even the sun, supposed to be so
  great, gets obscured sometimes, and why
  everything that's beautiful decays from beauty
  sooner or later. He has shifted the metaphor In
  the first quatrain, it was "summer" in general,
  and now he's comparing the sun and "every fair,"
  every beautiful thing, to his beloved.
• Third 4 Here the argument takes a big left turn
  with the familiar "But." Shakespeare says that
  the main reason he won't compare his beloved to
  summer is that summer dies but he/she won't. He
  refers to the first two quatrains her/his
  "eternal summer" won't fade, and she/he won't
  "lose possession" of the "fair" (the beauty)
  she/he possesses. So he keeps the metaphors
  going, but in a different direction. And for good
  measure, he throws in a negative version of all
  the sunshine in this poem the "shade" of death,
  which, evidently, his beloved won't have to worry
  about.
• Couplet How is his beloved going to escape
  death? In Shakespeare's poetry, which will keep
  him/her alive as long as people breathe or see.
  This bold statement gives closure to the whole
  argument it's a surprise.