Sonnets

1. Sonnets

2. Sonnets • Sonnets are a form of poetry • The word sonnet means “little song.”

3. Characteristics of Sonnets • Each sonnet has 14 lines. • Each sonnet has a rhyme scheme. • Sonnets are written in iambic pentameter.

4. Traditional Themes of Sonnets • Love • Death/Mortality • Change • Religious Devotion • Change • Self-Deprecation

5. Sonnets: The History • Originated in Italy during the Italian Renaissance. • A man name Francis Petrarch (or Francesco Petrarca) is credited with the development of the sonnet. • Dante is also credited with writing Italian Sonnets. • Sonnets with a particular structure are called Italian or Petrarchan Sonnets.

6. Sonnets: The History • Author Thomas Wyatt traveled to Spain and Italy where he was exposed to the Petrarchan (Italian) Sonnet. • Wyatt began writing sonnets. His focus was on rhyme. • Wyatt’s friend Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, also began writing sonnets. His focus was on structure. • Surrey is credited with the development of the English Sonnet. • The English sonnet is also known as the Elizabethan Sonnet, or more commonly, the Shakespearian Sonnet.

7. What is Meter? • Meter - a recurring pattern of stressed (accented, or long) and unstressed (unaccented, or short) syllables in lines of a set length. • Foot – a set of syllables • EXAMPLE: Shall I | com PARE | thee TO | a SUM | mer’sDAY?

8. Stress Patterns

9. Feet in a Line

10. Determining the Meter • The meter is determined by the type of foot and the number of feet per line. Example 1 Four Anapestic feet = anapestic tetrameter dadaDUM | dadaDUM | dadaDUM | dadaDUM The As SYR|ian came DOWN | like the WOLF | on the FOLD And his CO|horts were GLEAM|ing in PUR|ple and GOLD And the SHEEN | of their SPEARS | was like STARS | on the SEA (from “The Destruction of Sennacherib” by George Gordon Lord Byron)

11. Determining the Meter Example 2 Four Trochaic feet = Trochaic tetrameter DUM da | DUM da | DUM da | DUM da TYger | TYger | BURNning | BRIGHT IN the | FORests | OF the | NIGHT (from “The Tyger” by William Blake)

12. Determining the Meter Example 3 • Sonnets are written in iambic pentameter. Five Iambic feet = Iambic Pentameter DaDUM | DaDUM | DaDUM |DaDUM |DaDUM When I | con SID|erHOW | my LIFE | is SPENT Ere HALF | my DAYS | is THIS | dark WORLD |and WIDE (from “On His Blindness” by John Milton)

13. Counting Lines • 2 Lines = Couplet • 4 Lines = Quatrain • 6 Lines = Sestet • 8 Lines = Octave

14. Counting Lines Italian/Petrarchan Sonnets English/Shakespearian Sonnets & Spenserian Sonnets Quatrain 4 Quatrain 4 Sestet 6 ----------------- TOTAL 14 lines Quatrain 4 Quatrain 4 Quatrain 4 Couplet 2 ----------------- TOTAL 14 lines

15. Rhyme Schemes • Rhyme scheme simply refers to the pattern of rhyme used in a poem. • Letters are used to represent the rhymes. • Italian/Petrarchan sonnets, English/Shakespearian sonnets, and Spenserian sonnets all use different rhyme schemes.

16. Example of Rhyme Scheme What time of year thou mayst in me behold A When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang B Upon those boughs which shake against the cold, A Bare ruined choirs, where late the sweet birds sang. B

17. Specific Rhyme Schemes Italian/Petrarchan Sonnet A B B A (quatrain) A B B A (quatrain) C D C D C D (sestet) English/Shakespearian Sonnet A B A B (quatrain) C D C D (quatrain) E F E F (quatrain) G G (couplet) Spenserian Sonnet A B A B (quatrain) B C B C (quatrain) C D C D (quatrain) E E (couplet)

18. Additional Terms • Volta • Italian/Petrarchan sonnets contain a change in thought or a turn which accompanies the change in rhyme scheme. This called the volta. • Enjambment • Not only in sonnets, but in a variety of poetry, a thought is carried from one line into the next. This is called enjambment. • Blank Verse • When no rhyme scheme is present.