The Sonnet

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The Sonnet
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A sonnet is

• a lyric poem
• consisting of fourteen lines
• written in iambic pentameter
• with a definite rhyme scheme
• and a definite thought structure
• A sonnet introduces a problem or question in the
  beginning, and a resolution is offered after the
  turn.

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A lyric poem

• Deals with emotions, feelings

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Iambic pentameter consists of

• five measures, units, or meters, of
• iambs

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An iamb is a metrical foot consisting ofan
unaccented syllable Ufollowed by an accented
syllable /.

• U /
• a gain
• U / U /
• im mor tal ize

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Iambic pentameter
1 2 3
4 5

• U / U / U / U / U
  /
• One day I wrote her name u pon the strand,
• U / U / U / U /
  U /
• But came the waves and wash ed it a way
• U / U / U / U / U /
• A gain I wrote it with a sec ond hand,
• U / U / U / U
  / U /
• But came the tide, and made my pains his prey
• Edmund Spenser, Amoretti, Sonnet 75

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A little video to help you with Iambic Pentameter
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Sonnet 14 line lyric poem all contain a turn tone shifts PETRARCHAN SONNET 1350-1550 Italian
Rhyme Scheme eight line octave abba abba poses a problem six line sestet cdecde problem answered
Poets   Francesco Petrarcha (English Petrarch)
Famous Sonnets/Sonnet Sequence (linked by theme or person addressed) hundreds of numbered sonnets
Themes unattainable love, longing for an idealized lady
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SPENSERIAN SONNET 1500-1580 English
abab bcbc cdcdee
Edmund Spencer Sir Philip Sidney
Spencer Fairie Queene Amoretti (in text book, Sonnet 1, 35, 75) Sidney Astrophel and Stella (in text book Sonnet 31, 39)
frustration, loneliness or disappointment with love
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SHAKESPEAREAN SONNET 1570-1600 English
abab cdcd efef gg 3 quatrains 1 rhyming couplet often a dramatic statement that resolves, restates or redefines the central problem of the sonnet Normally written in iambic pentameter
William Shakespeare
154 Sonnets addressed to young man dark lady rival poet
time, death, love, and friendship
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What type of sonnet is What the Sonnet Is?

• What are the groupings of the lines (how many
  lines are in each group)?
• What is the rhyme scheme?
• Where is the turn?
• Based on your answers, what kind of sonnet is it?
• Write these questions on your paper and answer
  them when the sonnet is shown.

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What the Sonnet is

• Fourteen small broidered berries on the hem
• Of Circes mantle, each of magic gold
• Fourteen of lone Calypsos tears that rolled
• Into the sea, for pearls to come of them
• Fourteen clear signs of omen in the gem
• With which Medea human fate foretold
• Fourteen small drops, which Faustus, growing old,
• Craved of the Fiend, to water Lifes dry stem.
• It is the pure white diamond Dante brought
• To Beatrice the sapphire Laura wore
• When Petrarch cut it sparkling out of thought
• The ruby Shakespeare hewed from his hearts core
• The dark, deep emerald that Rossetti wrought
• For his own soul, to wear for evermore.
• Eugene Lee-Hamilton

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What type of sonnet is What the Sonnet Is?

• Lines are in an octave (eight lines) and a sestet
  (six lines).
• Fourteen small broidered berries on the hem
• Of Circes mantle, each of magic gold
• Fourteen of lone Calypsos tears that rolled
• Into the sea, for pearls to come of them
• Fourteen clear signs of omen in the gem
• With which Medea human fate foretold
• Fourteen small drops, which Faustus, growing old,
• Craved of the Fiend, to water Lifes dry stem.
• It is the pure white diamond Dante brought
• To Beatrice the sapphire Laura wore
• When Petrarch cut it sparkling out of thought
• The ruby Shakespeare hewed from his hearts core
• The dark, deep emerald that Rossetti wrought
• For his own soul, to wear for evermore.

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What type of sonnet is What the Sonnet Is?

• Rhyme scheme is abbaabba cdcdcd.
• Fourteen small broidered berries on the hem
• Of Circes mantle, each of magic gold
• Fourteen of lone Calypsos tears that rolled
• Into the sea, for pearls to come of them
• Fourteen clear signs of omen in the gem
• With which Medea human fate foretold
• Fourteen small drops, which Faustus, growing old,
• Craved of the Fiend, to water Lifes dry stem.
• It is the pure white diamond Dante brought
• To Beatrice the sapphire Laura wore
• When Petrarch cut it sparkling out of thought
• The ruby Shakespeare hewed from his hearts core
• The dark, deep emerald that Rossetti wrought
• For his own soul, to wear for evermore.

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What type of sonnet is What the Sonnet Is?

• The turn in this sonnet is between the octave and
  the sestet, or after eight lines.
• The period at the end of line eight is a clue
  that this is the turn, especially because it is
  one of only two periods in the sonnet.
• Before the turn, the speaker is telling of groups
  of fourteen after the turn, he tells of who
  wrote the sonnets.

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What type of sonnet is What the Sonnet Is?

• What the Sonnet Is is an Italian/Petrarchan
  Sonnet!

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Rhyme scheme

• Petrarchan (Italian) rhyme scheme
• abba, abba, cd, cd, cd
• abba, abba, cde, cde
• Shakespearean (English, or Elizabethan) rhyme
  scheme
• abab, cdcd, efef, gg

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Sonnet 18

• Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
• Thou art more lovely and more temperate
• Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
• And summer's lease hath all too short a date
• Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
• And often is his gold complexion dimmed,
• And every fair from fair sometime declines,
• By chance, or nature's changing course untrimmed
• But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
• Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st,
• Nor shall death brag thou wander'st in his shade,
  
• When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st,
• So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,
• So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

A B A B C d C D E F E F G G
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Thought structure

• Octave/ sestet
• The octave, eight lines, presents a situation
  or idea.
• The sestet (sextet), six lines, responds, to
  the situation or idea in the octave.
• Quatrain, quatrain, quatrain, couplet
• Each quatrain, four lines, describes an idea or
  situation which leads to a conclusion or response
  in the couplet, two lines.

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• Power point adapted/compiled from
• www.wou.edu/bgodlev/sonnet_powerpoint.ppt
• www.schatzonline.com/Powerpoint/Sonnet.ppt