Sonnets

1. Sonnets

2. Poetic Terms & Definitions • Metaphor A direct comparison between two things. Examples: Life is a dream Love is a vale of tears. Life is a hard road. • Extended Metaphor A metaphor that is extended throughout the work of a poem Metaphors do NOT contain the words like or as.

3. Poetic Terms & Definitions • Quatrain: A stanza or poem of four lines. • Sonnet (“little song”): A poem of fourteen lines; usually written in rhymed iambic pentameter. • Rhyme Scheme: The pattern of end rhyme in a poem; characterized by assigning a letter to each line to denote the words that rhyme with each other at the end of the lines. (abab, cdcd, efef, gg)

4. Poetic Terms & Definitions • Iambic pentameter - a kind of rhythmic pattern that consists of five iambs per line, almost like five heartbeats: daDUM daDUM daDUM daDUM daDUM. (ten syllables of unstressed and stressed beats) • Couplet – two lines of rhymed poetry • Stanza – a verse of poetry • Octave – 8 lines of poetry • Sestet – 6 lines of poetry

5. Three Forms of Sonnets • Petrarchan (Italian) sonnet Petrarchan sonnet: 14 lines long, made up of two parts- an eight line section (octave) followed by a six-line section (sestet). The octave usually raises an issue, asks a question or poses a problem. The sestet “solves” it or responds to it. Rhyme Scheme: Octave: a, b, b, a a, b, b, a Sestet: (varies) c,d,e c,d,e OR c,d,c d, c, d

6. Three Forms of Sonnets • Elizabethan (English) (Shakespearean) sonnet Elizabethan sonnet: 14 lines long. Consists of three quatrains (four-line stanzas) and a final couplet (two rhymed lines). Rhyme Scheme: a, b, a, b c, d, c, d e, f, e, f g, g

7. Three Forms of Sonnets • Spenserian sonnet Spenserian sonnet: 14 lines long variation of the Shakespearean sonnet but uses an interlocking rhyme scheme. The last rhyme of the first quatrain becomes the first rhyme in the second quatrain and so on. The third quatrain is followed by a final couplet. Rhyme Scheme: a, b, a, b b, c, b, c c, d, c, d e, e