SonnetsLima

AP LIT & COMP.

Little Songs Sonnet

• Popular classical form that’s compelled poets for centuries

• From the Italian “sonetto”, which means “a little sound or song”

Sonnet Structure 14 line poem Written in iambic pentameter

• Meter- the patterning of syllables in a line of poetry (stressed to unstressed and vice versa)

2 syllables = a foot A foot that consists of an unstressed stressed syllable = an

iamb Ex.(da DUM) *SYMBOLS

• Iambic Pentameter– a line of poetry that contains 5 iambs So a line of poetry written in pentameter has 5 feet, or 5

sets of stressed and unstressed syllables. Ex. If you would put the key inside the lock

If YOU would PUT the KEY inSIDE the LOCK (da DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM)

Sonnet Structure, Continued

Set rhyme schemes• Several to choose from

Usually written in iambic pentameter• Meter--

Tightly structured thematic organization

Petrarchan (Italian) Sonnet First and most common form Named after the Italian poet, Petrarch Introduced to England in the early 16th century by Sir Thomas Wyatt

Petrarchan Sonnet Structure

Structure:• Divided into 2 stanzas

The Octave– the first 8 lines Poet presents an argument, observation, question or some

other answerable charge Turn/Volta- lines 8-9

Shift in direction of the foregoing argument/narrative Sestet– the final 5/6 lines

Vehicle for counterargument, clarification or whatever is demanded by the octave

• Tightly woven rhyme scheme Abba, abba, cdecde/cdcdcd

Petrarchan Sonnet: When I Consider How My Light is Spent (Milton) When I consider how my light is spent, Ere half my days in this dark world and

wide, And that one talent which is death to

hide Lodged with me useless, though my soul

more bent To serve therewith my Maker, and

present My true account, lest He returning chide; "Doth God exact day-labor, light denied?" I fondly ask. But Patience, to prevent That murmur, soon replies, "God doth not

need Either man's work or His own gifts. Who

best Bear His mild yoke, they serve Him best.

His state Is kingly: thousands at His bidding speed, And post o'er land and ocean without

rest; They also serve who only stand and

wait."

Identify:Octave- what is the answerable charge?Volta- where is the shift?Sestet- what is the answer/counterargument?*thematic parts

Shakespearean (English) Sonnet

Style– lots of elevated figurative language

Theme– usually idealized love Structure

• 3 quatrains• 1 couplet

Usually a conclusion, amplification or refutation of the first 3 stanzas

Usually results in a epiphanic quality to the poem

Shakespearean Sonnet Structure, continued

• OCTAVE 1st 2 quatrains (8 lines)– one thematic part

After this there is the volta (change of mood/thematic direction) NOT as important

• SESTET 1 quatrain, 1 couplet

Shakespearean Sonnet #130Sonnet 130 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 damasked, red and white, But no such roses see I in her cheeks; And in some perfumes is there more delightThan in the breath that from my mistress reeks. I love to hear her speak, yet well I knowThat 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 rareAs any she belied with false compare.

Identify:Octave- what is the answerable charge?Volta- where is the shift?Sestet- what is the answer/counter-argument?*thematic parts

Spenserian Sonnet Named after poet, Edmund Spenser Emerged from Spenser’s romantic epic

poem, The Faeire Queene Differ from Shakespearean sonnets mainly

in rhyme scheme• Abab, bcbc, cdcd, ee

Also deemphasizes the importance of the couplet by including two internal couplets, or “couplet links” prior to the final couplet• So, the quatrains are “interlocked”

Spenserian Sonnet from the Amoretti Sonnet 75 from the Amoretti

One day I wrote her name upon the strand, But came the waves and washed it away: Again I wrote it with a second hand, But came the tide, and made my pains his prey.

Vain man, said she, that doest in vain assay A mortal thing so to immortalize, For I myself shall like to this decay, And eek my name be wiped out likewise.

Not so (quoth I), let baser things devise To die in dust, but you shall live by fame: My verse your virtues rare shall eternize, And in the heavens write your glorious name.

Where when as Death shall all the world subdue, Out love shall live, and later life renew.

Identify:Octave- what is the answerable charge?Volta- where is the shift?Sestet- what is the answer/counterargument?Couplet Links?*thematic parts

Sonnet Sequences Type of sonnet grouping A series of linked poems dealing with

a unified subjects• Shakespearean sonnets• Elizabeth Barret Browning’s Sonnets from

the Portuguese