Origin of the Sonnet

A sonnet is a 14-line lyric poem with a complicated rhyme scheme.

Origin of the Sonnet

A sonnet is a 14-line lyric poem with a complicated rhyme scheme.

Because of the technical skill required to write a sonnet, the form has challenged English poets for hundreds of years.

Origin of the Sonnet

A sonnet is a 14-line lyric poem with a complicated rhyme scheme.

Because of the technical skill required to write a sonnet, the form has challenged English poets for hundreds of years.

Sonnet comes from the world “little song.”

Origin of the Sonnet

Petrarchan sonnet

The great Italian poet Petrarch perfected the Italian sonnet (Petrarchan Sonnet).

Petrarchan sonnet

The great Italian poet Petrarch perfected the Italian sonnet (Petrarchan Sonnet).

He thought the melody of a sonnet was perfect for love poems.

Petrarchan Sonnet

The great Italian poet Petrarch perfected the Italian sonnet (Petrarchan Sonnet).

He thought the melody of a sonnet was perfect for love poems.

Petrarch wrote over 300 sonnets detailing his devotion to a beautiful but unobtainable lady, whom he called Laura.

Petrarchan Sonnet

English SonnetShakespearean Sonnet

The English Sonnet begins with Sir Thomas Wyatt—another devoted, love poet.

English Sonnet

The English Sonnet begins with Sir Thomas Wyatt—another devoted, love poet.

It was rumored that Wyatt was in love with queen Anne Boleyn.

English Sonnet

Henry VIII, although brutal to his wives, encouraged the poetry of courtly love and so welcomed the sonnet as a poetic form.

English Sonnet– Fun Fact!

The English Sonnet soon became the Shakespearean Sonnet because William Shakespeare used it with such distinction.

Shakespearean Sonnet

Instead of limited himself to the subject of love, he introduced deep philosophical issues and perplexing ironies.

Shakespearean Sonnet

Length 14 linesSubjectMeterStructure/Rhyme Scheme

What makes a Poem a Sonnet

Length 14 linesSubject A lyrical nature– a focus

on personal feelings and thoughts

MeterStructure/Rhyme Scheme

What makes a Poem a Sonnet

Length 14 linesSubject A lyrical nature– a focus

on personal feelings and thoughts

Meter Iambic pentameter lines– lines containing five metrical units, each consisting of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable

Structure/Rhyme Scheme

What makes a Poem a Sonnet

Length 14 linesSubject A lyrical nature– a focus

on personal feelings and thoughts

Meter Iambic pentameter lines– lines containing five metrical units, each consisting of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable

Structure/Rhyme Scheme A particular structure and rhyme scheme, Petrarchan or Shakesperean.

What makes a Poem a Sonnet

Petrarchan ShakespeareanAABBAABBA (octave) CDCDCD (sestet)

ABAB (quatrain) CDCD (quatrain) EFEF (quatrain) GG (couplet)

Octave:Sestet:

1st quatrain:2nd quatrain:3rd quatrain:Couplet:

Differences

Petrarchan ShakespeareanAABBAABBA (octave) CDCDCD (sestet)

ABAB (quatrain) CDCD (quatrain) EFEF (quatrain) GG (couplet)

Octave: establishes the speaker’s situationSestet:

1st quatrain:2nd quatrain:3rd quatrain:Couplet:

Differences

Petrarchan ShakespeareanAABBAABBA (octave) CDCDCD (sestet)

ABAB (quatrain) CDCD (quatrain) EFEF (quatrain) GG (couplet)

Octave: establishes the speaker’s situationSestet: resolves, draws conclusions about, or expresses a reaction to the situation

1st quatrain:2nd quatrain: 3rd quatrain:Couplet:

Differences

Petrarchan ShakespeareanAABBAABBA (octave) CDCDCD (sestet)

ABAB (quatrain) CDCD (quatrain) EFEF (quatrain) GG (couplet)

Octave: establishes the speaker’s situationSestet: resolves, draws conclusions about, or expresses a reaction to the situation

1st quatrain: Introduces situation2nd quatrain:3rd quatrain:Couplet:

Differences

Petrarchan ShakespeareanAABBAABBA (octave) CDCDCD (sestet)

ABAB (quatrain) CDCD (quatrain) EFEF (quatrain) GG (couplet)

Octave: establishes the speaker’s situationSestet: resolves, draws conclusions about, or expresses a reaction to the situation

1st quatrain: Introduces situation2nd quatrain: Introduces situation3rd quatrain:Couplet:

Differences

Petrarchan ShakespeareanAABBAABBA (octave) CDCDCD (sestet)

ABAB (quatrain) CDCD (quatrain) EFEF (quatrain) GG (couplet)

Octave: establishes the speaker’s situationSestet: resolves, draws conclusions about, or expresses a reaction to the situation

1st quatrain: Introduces situation2nd quatrain: Introduces situation3rd quatrain: A turn or shift in thoughtCouplet:

Differences

Petrarchan ShakespeareanAABBAABBA (octave) CDCDCD (sestet)

ABAB (quatrain) CDCD (quatrain) EFEF (quatrain) GG (couplet)

Octave: establishes the speaker’s situationSestet: resolves, draws conclusions about, or expresses a reaction to the situation

1st quatrain: Introduces situation2nd quatrain: Introduces situation3rd quatrain: A turn or shift in thoughtCouplet: The resolution of the situation

Differences

1. Read the sonnet several times.2. Use letters to label the rhyme scheme.3. Identify the major units of thought or feeling.4. Describe the situation introduced in the first

part of the sonnet.5. Paraphrase the speaker’s final resolution of,

conclusions about, or reaction to the situation.

6. Study the imagery and figurative language for clues to the emotions expressed.

Strategies for Reading

That time of year though mayst in me behold

When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang

Upon those boughts which shake against the cold,

Bare ruined choirs, where late the sweet birds sang

Shakespearean Sonnet: 73

In me thou see’st the twilight of such day

As after sunset fadeth in the west;

Which by and by black night doth take away,

Death’s second self, that seals up all in rest.

Shakespearean Sonnet: 73

In me though see’st the glowing of such fire,

That on the ashes of his youth doth lie,

As the deathbed whereon it must expire,

Consumed with that which it has nourished by.

Shakespearean Sonnet: 73

This though perceiv’st, which makes thy love more strong,

To love that well which though must leave ere long.

Shakespearean Sonnet: 73

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