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Sonnets
Mr. Cleon M. McLean
A.P. English
Ontario High School
Sonnet
• The term sonnet is derived from the
word sonet and the Italian word
sonetto, both meaning little song. By
the thirteenth century, it had come to
signify a poem of fourteen lines
following a strict rhyme scheme and
logical structure.
Vocabulary
• iamb—a metrical unit of one unstressed
and one stressed syllables (in that order)
• meter—from the Greek word “metron,”
meaning measure, a meter is a way of
describing rhythmic pattern in poetry
• iambic pentameter—five iambs, creating a
10 syllabic line
Vocabulary
• couplet—two successive lines of poetry,
usually rhymed (aa)
• stanza—The natural unit of the lyric. Stanza
means “room” or “stopping place” in Italian
• conceit—an elaborate figure of speech
comparing two extremely dissimilar things
• ars poetica—means “poetry is the subject of
the poem”
Vocabulary
• iamb—an unstressed syllable followed
by a stressed syllable. E.g., ādǒre
• trochee—a stressed syllable followed by
an unstressed syllable. E.g., ărdōr
• dactyl—a stressed syllable followed by
two unstressed syllables. E.g., rădiāñt
• spondee—two stressed syllables. E.g.,
ămĕn
Three Types of Sonnets
1. Petrarchan sonnet
(or Italian sonnet…from
the Italian poet, Petrarch)…invented before the
16th century
16th century (1485—1603)
2. Shakespearean sonnet (or Elizabethan,
or English sonnet)
3. Spenserian sonnet (from the sixteenth
century poet, Edmund Spenser)
Petrarchan sonnet parts
1. Fourteen lines
2. Two sections:
a. An octave (eight lines)
b. A sestet (six lines)
Typically, the change over from the octave to the
sestet happens at the volta. Some sonnets may reverse
the order of the octave and sestet, while others might
have the volta occurring in the ending couplet
3. Iambic pentameter
4. Rhyme scheme:
1. abba, abba…(octave)
2. cdecde, or…cdcdcd…(sestet)
Petrarchan sonnet
• The Petrarchan sonnet tends to pose a
question, observation, argument, or
some other answerable rhetoric in the
octave, and then has a volta ( or turn)
occurs in the eighth or ninth line,
making the sestet the answer to the
question, the clarification, or the
counterargument
“Whoso list to hunt”
by
Sir Thomas Wyatt
(introduced the Petrarchan sonnet style into English; posited as the inamorato
of Anne Boleyn)
Whoso list to hunt, I know where is an hind
But as for me, alas, I may no more:
The vain travail hath wearied me so sore.
I am of them that farthest cometh behind;
Yet may I, by no means, my wearied mind
Draw from the deer, but as she fleeth afore,
Fainting I follow. I leave off therefore,
Since in a net I seek to hold the wind.
Who list her hunt, I put him out of doubt,
As well as I, may spend his time in vain.
And graven with diamonds in letters plain
There is written, her fair neck round about,
"Noli me tangere, for Caesar's I am,
And wild for to hold, though I seem tame."
Shakespearean sonnet
A Shakespearean sonnet consists of the following:
1. Fourteen lines
2. Iambic pentameter (5 unstressed and 5
stressed syllables in each line)
3. 3 quatrains: abab, cdcd, efef
4. An ending couplet: gg
Historical note: Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, created the above structure—
which is now associated with Shakespeare
Shakespearean sonnet XXVII (27)
Weary with toil, I haste me to my bed,
The dear repose for limbs with travel tired;
But then begins a journey in my head
To work my mind, when body's work's expired:
For then my thoughts--from far where I abide-Intend a zealous pilgrimage to thee,
And keep my drooping eyelids open wide,
Looking on darkness which the blind do see:
Save that my soul's imaginary sight
Presents thy shadow to my sightless view,
Which, like a jewel hung in ghastly night,
Makes black night beauteous, and her old face new.
Lo! thus, by day my limbs, by night my mind,
For thee, and for myself, no quiet find.
Spenserian sonnet
• Similar to the Shakespearean sonnet:
• 3 quatrains (with linking couplets)
• 1 ending couplet
• Rhyme scheme:
• abab, bcbc, cdcd (quatrains)…the colors show
the “couplet link”
• ee (couplet)
Elizabeth Browning’s
How do I love thee?
(19th century example of a Spenserian sonnet)
How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of being and ideal grace.
I love thee to the level of every day's
Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.
I love thee freely, as men strive for right.
I love thee purely, as they turn from praise.
I love thee with the passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints. I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life; and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.