Download The English sonnet

IAMBIC PENTAMETER/SONNETS
& READING SHAKESPEARE
Mrs. Britte – English 10
• Iambic pentameter is a style of poetry and refers to the number
of syllables in a line and the emphasis that is placed on each
syllable.
• Shakespeare often wrote in iambic pentameter. His sonnets are
the best example of this style.
• He wrote 154 sonnets.
Let’s take a look . . .
Sonnet means
little song in
Italian
Sonnet 18
Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
Thou are more lovely and more temperate.
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer’s lease hath all too short a date.
A sonnet
is made
up of 3
quatrain
s
It ends
with a
couplet:
2
stanzas
One line is a
stanza
4 stanzas
make up a
quatrain
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 ow’st,
Nor shall Death brad thou wander’st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou grow’st.
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
A sonnet is
always 14
lines!
Sonnet 18
Each line
consists of 10
syllables
Count
them!
Each foot
consists of 1
STRESSED
and 1
UNSTRESSED
syllable
Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
Thou are 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 ow’st,
Nor shall Death brad thou wander’st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou grow’st.
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
Each line
has a fixed
pattern of
meter or
RHYTHM
There can only
be 10 syllables
per line!
The 10 syllables
make up 5 feet. 1
foot = 2 syllables
Feel like this?
__ / __ /
__ / __ / __
/
Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
“___” is an
unstressed
syllable
“/” is a stressed
syllable
These are feet
Tap it
out!
A stanza ALWAYS starts with an
unstressed syllable and ends with a
stressed syllable.
Sonnet 18
Notice the
rhyme
patterns of a
sonnet . . .
Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
Thou are more lovely and more temperate.
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer’s lease hath all too short a date.
A
B
A
B
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.
C
D
C
D
But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st,
Nor shall Death brad thou wander’st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou grow’st.
E
F
E
F
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
G
G
How to read Shakespeare out loud:
• Some pronunciations change based
on iambic pentameter
BAN-ished vs BAN-ish-ED
• Use emotion for effect
• It was performed on stage, so
visuals and facial expressions are
important
• Let’s listen . . .