A sonnet is

a lyric poem consisting of fourteen lines written in iambic pentameter with a definite rime scheme and a definite thought structure

A lyric poem

Deals with emotions, feelings

Iambic pentameter consists of five measures, units, or meters, of iambs

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

U /a gain

U / U / im mor tal ize

Iambic pentameter

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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Types of Sonnets

Petrarchan (Italian) rhyme scheme: abba, abba, cd, cd, cd abba, abba, cde, cde

Shakespearean (English, or Elizabethan) rhyme scheme:

abab, cdcd, efef, gg

Types of Sonnets (con’t)

The Spenserian sonnet, invented by Edmund Spenser as an outgrowth of the stanza pattern he used in The Faerie Queene, has the pattern:

a b a b b c b c c d c d e e

The Volta (or turn) Volta, can be used in reference to any type of

literature, but is most frequently used in regard to poems, particularly sonnets. It comes from Italian and quite literally means ‘turn’, which is why you might hear it referred to as ‘the turn’ or the ‘turning point’.

And that’s pretty much all it means, it is a line (a thought expressed in the poem), which in some way alters it’s meaning. In other words, we think the sonnet is about one thing…but, no, wait, it’s actually saying something else. Or, in less dramatic circumstances, it just denotes a change in tone.

Volta in a Shakespearean Sonnet And the ‘no rhyming couplet ending rule’ is

something that the English sonnets and our friend Shakespeare threw right out of the window. Shakespearean sonnets, unlike their Italian cousins, are divided into three quatrains (groups of four lines) and a closing couplet (two lines).

In addition, among the many things Shakespeare messes with when marking the sonnet form with his own brand, the volta is not to be found in just one place. There are times when Shakespeare does follow the old Petrarchan way and places his ‘turn’ on line 9. However, more often than not, Shakespeare’s voltas are to be found in the closing couplet.

Volta in a Petrarchan Sonnet Typically, finding the volta in a Petrarchan

sonnet is a fairly straightforward affair. Usually, a Petrarchan sonnet can be divided in two: an octet (which is the first eight lines) and sestet (which is the remaining six lines).

The volta is most frequently found at the beginning of the sestet. Or, put more simply, the turning point of the sonnet, typically, occurs in line 9. Another good pointer is that the volta often signifies a change in rhyme scheme.

Volta in a Spenserian Sonnet The Spenserian sonnet is named after

Edmund Spencer. He developed the three quatrains and couplet form of the sonnet.

The volta or change happens just before the last two lines. The rhyme scheme is abab bcbc cdcd ee.

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, coupletEach quatrain, four lines, describes and

idea or situation which leads to a conclusion or response in the couplet, two lines.

Thought structure (con’t)

Here, the "abab" pattern sets up distinct four-line groups, each of which develops a specific idea; however, the overlapping a, b, c, and d rhymes form the first 12 lines into a single unit with a separated final couplet.

Thought structure (con’t)

The three quatrains then develop three distinct but closely related ideas, with a different idea (or commentary) in the couplet. Interestingly, Spenser often begins L9 of his sonnets with "But" or "Yet," indicating a volta exactly where it would occur in the Italian sonnet.

However, if one looks closely, one often finds that the "turn" here really isn't one at all, that the actual turn occurs where the rhyme pattern changes, with the couplet, thus giving a 12 and 2 line pattern very different from the Italian 8 and 6 line pattern.

Sonnet 18Shall 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.

ABABCdCDEFEFGG

Sonnet 18Shall 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:

ButBut 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.

The octave describes the ways in which the summer’s day is inferior to the beloved.

The sestet describes the ways in which the beloved is superior to the summer’s day.

Sonnet 29When in disgrace with fortune and men's eyesI all alone beweep my outcast state,And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries,And look upon myself, and curse my fate,Wishing me like to one more rich in hope,Featured like him, like him with friends possessed,Desiring this man's art, and that man's scope,With what I most enjoy contented least;

YetYet in these thoughts my self almost despising,Haply I think on thee, and then my state,Like to the lark at break of day arisingFrom sullen earth, sings hymns at heaven's gate; For thy sweet love remembered such wealth brings

That then I scorn to change my state with kings.

The diction of the octave implies the speaker’s self-pity and depression.

The sestet’s diction, in conrast, is joyful.

Sonnet 73

That time of year thou mayst in me beholdWhen yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hangUpon those boughs which shake against the cold,Bare ruined choirs, where late the sweet birds sang.In me thou see'st the twilight of such dayAs 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. In me thou see'st the glowing of such fire,That on the ashes of his youth doth lie,As the death-bed, whereon it must expire,Consum'd with that which it was nourish'd by.This thou perceiv'st, which makes thy love more strong,To love that well, which thou must leave ere long.

1st Quatrain

Year - Fall

2nd Quatrain Day - Twilight

3rd QuatrainFire - Coals

“This” is ll.1-12

Sonnet 73

Q1Q1

Q2Q2

Q3Q3

The speaker isThe speaker is Part of life livedPart of life lived The whole of lifeThe whole of life

in the in the fallfall of his life of his life the spring and summerthe spring and summer the yearthe year

in the in the twilighttwilight of the day of the day the morning and noonthe morning and noon the daythe day

In the glowing coalsIn the glowing coals The ashes of youthThe ashes of youth hourhour

Year

Day

Hour

Time is rapidly shortening.

That time is running out is what the beloved perceives.

Sonnet LIVOf this World's theatre in which we stay,

My love like the Spectator idly sits,

Beholding me, that all the pageants play,

Disguising diversely my troubled wits.

Sometimes I joy when glad occasion fits,

And mask in mirth like to a Comedy;

Soon after when my joy to sorrow flits,

I wail and make my woes a Tragedy.

Yet she, beholding me with constant eye,

Delights not in my mirth nor rues my smart;

But when I laugh, she mocks: and when I cry

She laughs and hardens evermore her heart.

What then can move her? If nor mirth nor moan,

She is no woman, but a senseless stone.

The UnsonnetLoving in truth, and fain in verse my love to show,That she, dear she, might take some pleasure of my pain,Pleasure might cause her read, reading might make her know,Knowledge might pity win, and pity grace obtain,—I sought fit words to paint the blackest face of woe ;Studying inventions fine, her wits to entertain, Oft turning others' leaves to see if thence would flowSome fresh and fruitful showers upon my sun-burned brain.But words came halting forth, wanting invention's stay ;Invention, nature's child, fled step-dame Study's blows,And others' feet still seemed but strangers in my way.Thus, great with child to speak, and helpless in my throes,

Biting my truant pen, beating myself for spite,Fool, said my muse to me, look in thy heart and write.

Philip Sidney, Astrophel and Stella, Sonnet 1

Loving in truth, and fain in verse my love to show,

That she, dear she, might take some pleasure of my pain,

Pleasure might cause her read, reading might make her know,

Knowledge might pity win, and pity grace obtain,—

I sought fit words to paint the blackest face of woe ;

Studying inventions fine, her wits to entertain,

Oft turning others' leaves to see if thence would flow

Some fresh and fruitful showers upon my sun-burned brain.

But words came halting forth, wanting invention's stay ;

Invention, nature's child, fled step-dame Study's blows,

And others' feet still seemed but strangers in my way.

Thus, great with child to speak, and helpless in my throes,Biting my truant pen, beating myself for spite,Fool, said my muse to me, look in thy heart and write.

/ U / / U /Plea sure might cause her read,

/ U / / U / read ing might make her know

Trochee: / U Spondee: / /

The UnsonnetLoving in truth, and fain in verse my love to show,That she, dear she, might take some pleasure of my pain,Pleasure might cause her read, reading might make her know,Knowledge might pity win, and pity grace obtain,—I sought fit words to paint the blackest face of woe ;Studying inventions fine, her wits to entertain, Oft turning others' leaves to see if thence would flowSome fresh and fruitful showers upon my sun-burned brain.But words came halting forth, wanting invention's stay ;Invention, nature's child, fled step-dame Study's blows,And others' feet still seemed but strangers in my way.Thus, great with child to speak, and helpless in my throes,

Biting my truant pen, beating myself for spite,Fool, said my muse to me, look in thy heart and write.

Philip Sidney, Astrophel and Stella, Sonnet 1