The Sonnet

1. The Sonnet Italian English

2. What is a Sonnet? • a lyric poem • fourteen lines • written in iambic pentameter • with a definite rhyme scheme • and a definite thought structure

3. Types • The Italian, or Petrarchan sonnet, named after Francesco Petrarch (1304-1374), the Italian poet, was introduced into English poetry in the early 16th century by Sir Thomas Wyatt (1503-1542). • The English or Shakespearean sonnet, developed first by Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey (1517-1547)

4. Characteristics • 1 Octave • 1 Sestet • Octave often presents problem and sestet answers it • Rhyme Scheme • abbaabba • cdecde (any variation) • Volta • shift between the octave and the sestet, often indicating a point of dramatic change. • Iambic Pentameter • 3 Quatrains • 1 Couplet (often functions as the moral of the sonnet) • Rhyme Scheme • Ababcdcdefefgg • Theme builds from quatrain to quatrain, using couplet for dramatic statement. • Uses the first 12 lines to present the problem and the last couplet to solve or restate it. • Iambic Pentameter Italian or Petrarchan English or Shakespearean

5. Petrarchan Sonnet Fourteen small broidered berries on the hem a Of Circe’s mantle, each of magic gold; b Fourteen of lone Calypso’s tears that rolled b Into the sea, for pearls to come of them; a Fourteen clear signs of omen in the gem a With which Medea human fate foretold; b Fourteen small drops, which Faustus, growing old, b Craved of the Fiend, to water Life’s dry stem. a It is the pure white diamond Dante brought c To Beatrice; the sapphire Laura wore d When Petrarch cut it sparkling out of thought; c The ruby Shakespeare hewed from his heart’s core; d The dark, deep emerald that Rossetti wrought c For his own soul, to wear for evermore. d

6. Shakespearean Sonnet Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? a Thou art more lovely and more temperate: b Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, a And summer's lease hath all too short a date: b Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines, c And often is his gold complexion dimm'd; d And every fair from fair sometime declines, c By chance, or nature's changing course untrimm'd; d But thy eternal summer shall not fade, e Nor lose possession of that fair thou know'st; f Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade, e When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st: f So long as man can breath, or eyes can see,g So long lives this, and this gives life to thee g

7. Iambic Pentameter An Iamb is a metrical foot consisting of an unaccented syllable Ufollowed by an accented syllable /. Pentameter means five iambs per line of poetry

8. Iambic Pentameter U / U / U / U / U / • One day I wrote her name upon 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

9. Poetry Terms Iambic foot- unstressed followed by stressed syllables (insist, unite, repeat) Trochaic foot- inversion stressed syllables followed by unstressed (unit, reaper, instant) Anapestic foot-two unstressed syllables followed by a stressed (intercede, disarranged) Dactylic foot-stressed syllable followed by two unstressed (applejack, Washington) Spondaic foot-two successive stressed syllables (heartbreak, headline) Monometer: one foot (rare) Dimeter: two feet (rare Trimeter: three feet Tetrameter: four feet Pentameter: five feet Hexameter: six feet Heptameter: seven feet (rare) Rhythm Terms Metrical Terms

10. Sound Devices • alliteration: the repetition of initial consonant sounds • assonance: the repetition of vowel sounds between different consonants, such as in neigh/fade • consonance: the repetition of identical consonant sounds before and after different vowel sounds, as in boost/best; it can also be seen within several compound words, such as fulfill and Ping Pong • cacophony: harsh, awkward, or dissonant sounds used deliberately in poetry or prose; the opposite of euphony • euphony: a succession of harmonious sounds used in poetry or prose; the opposite of cacophony • caesura: strong pause or break within a line creating a counter rhythm • onomatopoeia: the use of words that sound like what they mean, such as hiss and boom

11. Figurative Language • allusion: a brief mention that calls a character, event, idea to mind (mythology, biblical, literary, pop culture) • antithesis: opposite ideas in grammatical parallel, (man proposes; God disposes) • apostrophe: usually in poetry but sometimes in prose; the device of calling out to a imaginary, dead, or absent person or to a place, thing, or personified abstraction • connotation: implied or suggested meaning of a word because of its association in the reader's mind • conceit: unusually elaborate comparison • denotation: literal definition of a word • hyperbole: deliberate exaggeration in order to create humor or emphasis • imagery: words or phrases that use a collection of images to appeal to one or more of the five senses in order to create a mental picture • irony: implies an attitude that is often the opposite of that which is literally expressed.

12. Figurative Language • metaphor: a figure of speech in which one thing is referred to as another; for example, "my love is a fragile flower" • metonymy: speech that makes a term closely related to something serve as it substitute, (the “sword” meaning military career) • mood: similar to tone, mood is the primary emotional attitude of a work • oxymoron: a figure of speech composed of contradictory words or phrases, such as "wise fool" • paradox: apparent contradiction that illuminates truth( ex. courageous fear) • simile: a figure of speech that uses like, as, or as if to make a direct comparison between two essentially different objects, actions, or qualities; for example, "the sky looked like an artist's canvas" • personification: human qualities to an inanimate object • synecdoche: speech that uses the part to stand for the whole, or the whole to stand for the part; (“wheels for a car”, “crown” for the monarchy) • tone: the characteristic emotion or attitude of an author toward the characters, subject, and audience

13. Sonnet 3 It was on that day when the sun’s raywas darkened in pity for its Maker,that I was captured, and did not defend myself,because your lovely eyes had bound me, Lady.It did not seem to me to be a time to guard myselfagainst Love’s blows: so I went onconfident, unsuspecting; from that, my troublesstarted, amongst the public sorrows.Love discovered me all weaponless,and opened the way to the heart through the eyes,which are made the passageways and doors of tearsso that it seems to me it does him little honourto wound me with his arrow, in that state,he not showing his bow at all to you who are armed.

14. Sonnet 29 • When, in disgrace with Fortune and men's eyes, • I 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; • Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising, • Haply I think on thee, and then my state, • Like to the lark at break of day arising • From sullen earth, sings hymns at heaven's gate; • For thy sweet love rememb'red such wealth brings • That then I scorn to change my state with kings.

15. Analysis • Title- Connotation/Denotation • Response-What do you think and why? • Vocabulary-Define • Paraphrase-Write each line in your own words • Speaker-Describe • Literary Devices-Identify/Example/ Interpretation • Structure /Organization-Comment • Theme-Identify and write a thesis • Application-Affirm or Challenge your experience. Explain.