The Sonnet

Definition

• A sonnet is:– A fourteen-line

poem

• A sonnet has:– A set rhyme

scheme– A set number of

syllables in each line – usually 10 This 10-syllable per

line structure is called

iambic pentameter

Meter• Meter involves the rhythm established by a poem

– Usually dependent not only on the number of syllables in a line, but also on the way those syllables are accented

– This rhythm is often described as a pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables

– The rhythmic unit is often described as a foot• A foot may be iambic, which follows a pattern of

unstressed/stressed syllables

Iambic Pentameter

• A line of iambic pentameter is a line of poetry which follows a pattern of weak and strong stresses:– weak STRONG / weak STRONG / weak

STRONG / weak STRONG / weak STRONG• An iambiamb is one of the “weak STRONG” units• “Penta” means five - iambic pentameter has 5

iambs• One iamb = One foot (a foot is a repeating segment

used to build a line of poetry)• One line of iambic pentameter has five feet (10

syllables)

Sonnet Terms

• Stanza – recurring unit of a poem, consisting of a group of verses

• Couplet – two lines rhyming together (simplest form)

• Quatrain – stanza of four lines

• Octave – two quatrains (eight lines)

• Tercet - three lines

• Sestet – two tercets (six lines)

History of the Sonnet

• Originated in the Middle Ages in Italy and France

• Main form of English poetry in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries

• Revived several times from the early-nineteenth century to the present

• Usually focuses on expressing intense feelings and emotions

Francesco Petrarch

1304-1374: Italian

Many early English sonnets were simply Petrarchan sonnets in translation

Petrarch’s sonnets written to “Laura” – his great loveLove poems

Petrarch

Petrarchan Sonnet (Italian)

• Petrarchan ConceitPetrarchan Conceit - Comparison made generally by a suffering lover of his beautiful and cruel mistress to a physical object

• Petrarch explores the contrary states of feelings a lover experiences as he desires and idolises an unattainable lady

• Some conventional themes concern the lady’s great beauty, her power over him, her cruelty to him, his sleeplessness, or the pain of her absence

Petrarchan Purpose

• The Petrarchan Sonnet is often a poem with two points to make– One in the octave and one in the sestet

• Generally, the octave states the main idea of the poem

Petrarchan Purpose, cont’d

• The sestet:– Illustrates the idea from the octave – Provides an application or example of the

idea from the octave– Reverses the main idea and achieves a

paradox or irony in the poem

• Or, the poem may merely balance two arguments, one in the octave and one in the sestet

The Petrarchan Volta

• The change in idea from the octave to the sestet is called the “turn” or the “volta”

• It occurs at the beginning of line 9

Petrarchan Rhyme SchemeAB 1st quatrainBA

Octave (meditation or exploration of a problem or an issue)AB 2nd quatrainBA Volta (turn) C C CD 1st tercet D DE C E

or or Sestet (resolution)C D CD 2nd tercet C EE D D

Example: John Milton, “When I Consider How My Light is Spent”

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."

William Shakespeare (English) 1564 – 1616

Innovations in sonnet form and content

Sonnet Cycle (untitled)-154 sonnets-most written by 1597-98-published in 1609-three characters (poet,

beautiful youth, dark lady)

William Shakespeare

Shakespearean Sonnet

• Shakespeare’s sonnet moods included delight, pride, melancholy, shame, disgust, and fear

• The vocabulary is usually simple and the metaphorical style is rich

Purpose

• The Shakespearean Sonnet has two main purposes:– It can set up brief, cumulative images– It can make a three-step argument

• The rhyming couplet is usually a quick summary at the end – This is the Shakespearean version of the

volta

Shakespearean Rhyme Scheme

AB 1st quatrainAB CD 2nd quatrainCD EF 3rd quatrainEF Volta (turn) GG couplet (resolution involves a compressed statement)

Example: William Shakespeare, “Sonnet 116”

Let me not to the marriage of true minds Admit impediments, love is not love Which alters when it alteration finds, Or bends with the remover to remove. O no, it is an ever fixèd mark That looks on tempests and is never shaken; It is the star to every wand'ring bark, Whose worth's unknown although his height be taken.Love's not time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeksWithin his bending sickle's compass come, Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,But bears it out even to the edge of doom: If this be error and upon me proved, I never writ, nor no man ever loved.