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A fourteen-line lyric poem, usually
written in iambic pentameter, that has
one of several rhyme schemes
 Rhyme
scheme – pattern of rhymes in a
poem; usually referred to by letters
 Turn – a shift in focus or thought
 Conceit – a fanciful and extended poetic
comparison of two things that appear to have
little in common
 Complaint – poems conveying laments of
unrequited lovers; melancholy poem
 Metaphor – comparisons of two unlike things
 Personification
– a kind of metaphor in which
a nonhuman or nonliving thing or quality is
talked about as if it were human or had life
 Imagery – language that appeals to the
senses
 Parody – the imitation of a work of
literature, art, or music for amusement or
instruction
 Pastoral – a type of literature that depicts
country life in idyllic, idealized terms
 Carpe diem – a Latin phrase which means
“seize the day”
 Satire – a kind of writing that ridicules human
weakness, vice, or folly in order to bring
about social reform
 Paradox
– an apparent contradiction that is
somehow true
 Allusion – a reference to a statement,
person, place, event, quotation, or work of
art that is known from history, religion,
culture, etc. the reader is expected to know

Petrarchan sonnet – named after the fourteenthcentury Italian poet Petrarch, who popularized
the form
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Divided into two parts—an octave (8 lines) and a
sestet (6 lines)
Rhyme scheme:
 Octave – abbaabba
 Sestet – cdecde OR cdcdcd
The octave usually presents a problem, poses a
question, or expresses an idea
The sestet resolves, answers, or drives home the
idea
The turn usually occurs at the beginning of the
sestet
 Spenserian
sonnet – widely used by Edmund
Spenser
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Divided into three quatrains (4 lines each) and a
couplet (2 lines)
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Rhyme scheme – abab bcbc cdcd ee
 Shakespearean
sonnet, or English sonnet –
widely used by William Shakespeare
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Divided into three quatrains and a couplet
 Rhyme scheme – abab cdcd efef gg
The quatrains often express related ideas or
examples.
The couplet sums up the poet’s conclusion or
message found in the first three
The turn usually occurs at the end of the third
quatrain
 The
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Great Chain of Being:
God -> Nine order of angels -> man -> beasts ->
plants -> stones
 Caritas
– love of God and any person or thing
as a creature of God; considered unselfish
love or charity
 Cupidtas – love of any person or thing to
satisfy one’s selfish desire; love motivated by
pride; therefore, false love
 Pride
– sin from which all other sins grow;
the sin is making oneself more important
than God
 Mutability – based around the idea that
nothing of this earth will last, so people
should not put hope in things of the world,
but in God
 Use/Abuse – all that man possesses, including
life, is a gift from God; man chooses to use it
or abuse it for his own pride
 Reason vs. Passion – ability to think clearly
and make choices based on thoughts; man
was created as a reasonable creature, but
when passions take over, man behaves
irrationally
 Art
as Mirror – one function of a work of art
is to reveal something about the world; it
can mirror beauty or unattractive aspects
 Wasting Time – life on earth is short; it is the
time after life that matters; life on earth
should not be wasted on temporary things
 Rhetorical Questions – intended to make
people think, usually about their own
behavior
“Whoso List to Hunt”
– Sir Thomas Wyatt
 Traditional
gossip says this poem is about
Wyatt’s longing for Anne Boleyn.
 Wyatt realized that King Henry VIII was
interested in Anne as well.
 Wyatt gave up the “hunt” for Anne to
whomever else wanted to pursue her.
 “Whoso List to Hunt” is an adaptation of a
Petrarchan sonnet.
Sonnet 30; Sonnet 75
- Edmund Spenser
 Amoretti
is a sequence of 89 sonnets.
 They record a man’s two-year courtship of a
woman named Elizabeth
 Sonnet 30 – the speaker uses an original
convention to compare his love for a woman.
 Sonnet 30 uses a paradox.
 Sonnet 75 – Spenser uses “eternizing conceit”
Sonnet 29, Sonnet 73, Sonnet 116, Sonnet
130
- William Shakespeare