Download Sonnets 101

Sonnets 101
A sonnet is fundamentally a form of lyric poetry that usually examines two things and their
relationship. Basically, in a sonnet, you show two related but differing things to the reader in order to
communicate something about them. There are many different forms of sonnets, but they usually
have a total of 14 lines and they use a specific rhyme scheme.
I. The Italian (or Petrarchan) Sonnet:
The basic meter of all sonnets in English is iambic pentameter ( stressed/unstressed pattern with a
total of 10 syllables per line.)
The Italian sonnet is divided into two sections by two different groups of rhyming sounds. The first 8
lines is called the octave and rhymes: a b b a a b b a
The remaining 6 lines is called the sestet and can have either two or three rhyming sounds, arranged
in a variety of ways:
cdcdcd
or
c d d c d c or
cdecde
or
cdeced
or
cdcedc
The point here is that the poem is divided into two sections by the two differing rhyme groups. In
accordance with the principle (which supposedly applies to all rhymed poetry but often doesn't), a
change from one rhyme group to another signifies a change in subject matter. This change occurs at
the beginning of L9 in the Italian sonnet and is called the volta, or "turn"; the turn is an essential
element of the sonnet form, perhaps the essential element. It is at the volta that the second idea is
introduced, as in this sonnet by Wordsworth:
"London, 1802"
Milton! thou shouldst be living at this hour:
England hath need of thee: she is a fen
Of stagnant waters: altar, sword, and pen,
Fireside, the heroic wealth of hall and bower,
Have forfeited their ancient English dower
Of inward happiness. We are selfish men;
Oh! raise us up, return to us again;
And give us manners, virtue, freedom, power.
Thy soul was like a Star, and dwelt apart;
Thou hadst a voice whose sound was like the sea:
Pure as the naked heavens, majestic, free,
So didst thou travel on life's common way,
In cheerful godliness; and yet thy heart
The lowliest duties on herself did lay.
Here, the octave develops the idea of the decline and corruption of the English race, while the sestet
opposes to that loss the qualities Milton possessed which the race now desperately needs.
II. The Spenserian Sonnet:
The Spenserian sonnet, invented by Edmund Spenser has the pattern:
ababbcbccdcdee
Here, the "abab" pattern sets up distinct four-line groups, each of which develops a specific idea;
however, the overlapping a, b, c, and d rhymes form the first 12 lines into a single unit with a
separated final couplet. The three quatrains then develop three distinct but closely related ideas, with
a different idea (or commentary) in the couplet. Interestingly, Spenser often begins L9 of his sonnets
with "But" or "Yet," indicating a volta exactly where it would occur in the Italian sonnet; however, if
one looks closely, one often finds that the "turn" here really isn't one at all, that the actual turn occurs
where the rhyme pattern changes, with the couplet, thus giving a 12 and 2 line pattern very different
from the Italian 8 and 6 line pattern (actual volta marked by italics):
"Sonnet LIV"
Of this World's theatre in which we stay,
My love like the Spectator idly sits,
Beholding me, that all the pageants play,
Disguising diversely my troubled wits.
Sometimes I joy when glad occasion fits,
And mask in mirth like to a Comedy;
Soon after when my joy to sorrow flits,
I wail and make my woes a Tragedy.
Yet she, beholding me with constant eye,
Delights not in my mirth nor rues my smart;
But when I laugh, she mocks: and when I cry
She laughs and hardens evermore her heart.
What then can move her? If nor mirth nor moan,
She is no woman, but a senseless stone.
III. The English (or Shakespearian) Sonnet:
The English sonnet has the simplest and most flexible pattern of all sonnets, consisting of 3 quatrains
of alternating rhyme and a couplet:
abab
cdcd
efef
gg
As in the Spenserian, each quatrain develops a specific idea, but one closely related to the ideas in the
other quatrains.
Not only is the English sonnet the easiest in terms of its rhyme scheme, calling for only pairs of
rhyming words rather than groups of 4, but it is the most flexible in terms of the placement of the
volta. Shakespeare often places the "turn," as in the Italian, at L9:
Sonnet 18
Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate.
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date.
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimmed;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance, or nature's changing course, untrimmed;
But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest,
Nor shall death brag thou wanderest in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou growest.
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
Sonnet 116
Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove:
O no; it is an ever-fixed mark,
That looks on tempests, and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wandering bark,
Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.
Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle's compass come;
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
If this be error, and upon me prov'd,
I never writ, nor no man ever lov'd.
Sonnet
by: Denise Rodgers
The sonnet form is old and full of dust
And yet I want to learn to write one well.
To learn new forms and grow is quite a must,
But I will learn it quickly, I can tell.
And so I sit, today, with pen in hand,
Composing three new quatrains with a rhyme.
The rhythm flows like wind at my command.
The A-B-A-B form consumes my time.
But I’m not done until there’s fourteen lines.
One ending couplet, after three quatrains.
I’ve tried to write this new form several times.
The effort’s huge; I have to rack my brain.
But I persist, my fourteen lines now done.
I wrote my poem; my sonnet work is won.
Snowball
by: Graeme King
A tiny seed will form on the snow-capped
peak then roll - gaining momentum and size
until it lies still - waiting to be tapped
and shaped by the ice sculptor's melting eyes.
In black and white a charcoal sketch is framed
then color slopes of molten lava flow an icy-fiery scene of thoughts untamed
awaits creation. Some see only snow
and rug against the biting winter cold
but others feel the heat that emanates
from words unsaid and treasure it like gold
not leave the snowball's future to the fates.
From small beginnings mighty epics crawl
each snowflake is a poem, after all.
*This poet calls the following form a “stonnet” : a sonnet that tells a story.*
Star Wars #1
by: Graeme King
Naboo was under siege but not done yet,
two Jedi riding shotgun for the Queen
broke through the Empire's evil starship net,
but damage forced them down on Tattooine.
They found a boy - a slave - who loved to race
and bet their ship that he would win next day,
he gunned his pod and ended in first place,
they didn't know a Sith was on the way.
The Senate was a crock - no help at all,
so Jar Jar Binks helped organize a fray,
young Obi-Wan dispatched the bad Darth Maul
as Anakin flew up and saved the day.
The Jedi conquered with their swords of light
the kid would now be trained to be a knight.
Star Wars #6
by: Graeme King
In Jabba's citadel the band plays tunes
Luke feeds the Hutt to Sarlacc in the dunes,
On Dagobah old Yoda's death is sad,
and Luke heads off to battle with his Dad.
With Solo back in business fully healed
on Endor they attempt to wreck the shield,
the Emperor's as cunning as a fox
the little Ewoks help by throwing rocks.
When Vader learns he has a daughter too
he saves his son - the Emperor is through,
but Vader dies as Landro fires his blast
and Luke grabs up the body, heads out fast.
On Endor Jedi ghosts applaud and smile
the force is back in balance for a while...