16th Century Sonnets
Sonnets
• Sonnets are early forms of entertainment
through the combination of words and music.
• The sonnet is a poetic form that is believed to
have originated in Italy sometime in the 13th
century. It comes from the Italian word sonetto,
which means little sound, or little song.
• It was recited with musical accompaniment,
usually by a lute or mandolin.
Sonnets
• It was further
developed and
perfected in the 14th
century by a poet
and scholar named
Francesco Petrarch.
– His sonnets were
translated into
English.
Sonnets
• The British began using
the form to write their
own sonnets, but not
until 200 years after
Petrarch's success.
• Sir Thomas Wyatt and
Henry Howard are
credited with bringing
the 14-line lyric form to
the English language
early in the 16th century
Sonnets
• When Queen Elizabeth inherited
the throne in 1558, even more
literary creativity blossomed
because the queen supported the
arts and wrote poetry herself.
• It was during this part of the
Renaissance that English sonnets
were made popular by poets such
as Sir Philip Sidney, Edmund
Spenser, and William
Shakespeare.
Sonnets
• Sonnets traditionally address love and
the conflict between romantic love and
religious devotion to God.
• In the 17th century, John Milton,
another British poet, used sonnets to
address other topics, such as politics
and moral criticism.
• Modern sonnets cover many topics.
Sonnet Types & Structures
• There are two main types of sonnets:
English sonnets and Italian sonnets.
– There are also variations of these.
– All English sonnets and most Italian
sonnets are written in iambic pentameter.
– Though Italian and English sonnets are
similar, they have some distinct differences.
Iambic Pentameter
• The iamb is one type of poetic foot (a unit of
a pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables).
• An iamb is composed of an unstressed
syllable followed by a stressed syllable.
– (EX: Shall I)
• One line of a sonnet has five poetic feet.
– More specifically, it has five iambs.
Iambic Pentameter
• The feet are separated with slashes, and the
stressed syllable in the iamb is marked in bold.
• Stress the dark syllables and read it aloud.
When reading normally, you would not stress
the accented syllables unnaturally. However, if
you listen to yourself reading the line with the
opposite syllables emphasized, you can see
that the first way is correct.
• Shall I / compare / thee to / a sum/mer’s
day?
The Italian (Petrarchan) Sonnet
• The Italian sonnet is 14 lines long and made of
two distinct parts.
• The first part is an octave, eight lines long,
with the rhyme scheme of abbaabba. The
octave presents a narrative, states a
proposition (an idea to be considered), or
raises a question.
The Italian (Petrarchan) Sonnet
• The rest of the sonnet is a sestet, six lines
long, with a rhyme scheme of cdecde, cdcdcd,
cdccdc, or cdedce.
– Though the sestet rhyme scheme varies, it always
makes an abstract comment, elaborates on the
proposition, or answers the question that was
asked in the octave.
• Italian sonnets are the predominant sonnet
form today.
The English (Shakespearean or
Elizabethan) Sonnet
• The English sonnet is also 14 lines long.
However, it is made up of four sections
instead of two.
The English (Shakespearean or
Elizabethan) Sonnet
• The first three sections are quatrains (groups
of four lines), each with a rhyme scheme of its
own (usually every other line).
• The final two lines are a rhyming couplet.
This makes the overall rhyme scheme look
like: abab cdcd efef gg.
The English (Shakespearean or
Elizabethan) Sonnet
• The three quatrains usually describe a subject
or develop a theme.
• The couplet at the end gives a conclusion and
highlights or summarizes the meaning of the
poem.
Sonnets
Sonnet Sequences
• Many times a poet will write a series of
sonnets about a single subject.
• The subject might be something general such
as love, or something specific such as one
particular person.
• These related sonnets are simply called sonnet
sequences, or cycles.
Parallelism
• When poets are presenting a series of similar
ideas, they will sometimes arrange the ideas in
similar grammatical form.
• This is called parallelism.
• Parallelism makes the main idea clear and
makes the poem graceful and orderly.
• Writers of prose also use parallelism
sometimes.
• It is a type of repetition.
Parallelism
In this octave from "Sonnet 26" poet Edmund Spencer uses
parallelism effectively:
Sweet is the rose, but grows upon a briar;
Sweet is the juniper, but sharp his bough;
Sweet is the eglantine, but pricketh near;
Sweet is the fir bloom, but his branches rough;
Sweet is the cypress, but his rynd is tough;
Sweet is the nut, but bitter is his pill;
Sweet is the broom flower, but yet sour enough;
And sweet is moly, but his root is ill.
Underline the parallelism in the above poem.
What are the similar ideas? Think about each line.
Parallelism
• All the lines begin with "Sweet is the," and then after a
noun there is a comma and the word "but." These lines
all look alike.
• What about the similar ideas?
– Each line is about a plant.
– The first part of each line describes the plant as "sweet" and
the second part points out that even though the plant is sweet
it also has something about it that is undesirable.
• The similar structure of each line matches the similar
ideas between the lines. That is parallelism.
Figurative Devices that add
musical quality
• Alliteration- is a figurative device that uses repetition
of similar initial sounds of words.
– Tongue twisters are examples of alliteration, but poets use it
to add that musical quality mentioned above or to create a
mood.
– Most alliteration today is consonantal, meaning the initial
sounds are consonants.
She sells sea shells
by the sea shore.
• Consonance- is the repetition of consonants in the
middle or end of words.
Figurative Devices that add
musical quality
• Assonance- the repetition of the same or similar vowel
sounds in stressed syllables of words.
– Most often the assonance appears in words that end in
different consonant sounds.
– That means assonance is something in addition to regular
rhyme.
• By employing these "sound" devices, the poet can
develop a sense of softness (with letters like S, L, M) or
harshness (with letters like K or the hard G).
Figurative Devices that add
musical quality
Find the assonance in these lines by Dylan Thomas:
• The bows glided down, and the coast
Blackened with birds took a last look
At his thrashing hair and whale-blue eye;
The trodden town rang its cobbles for luck.
Figurative Language
• Sonnets are rich in figurative language. Figurative
language appeals to the senses and creates images in the
reader's mind by using language that is not meant to be
taken literally. Figures of speech are figurative language.
All of these devices appeal to the senses and create
imagery for readers.
Figurative Language
• metaphor- A comparison that does not use "as"
or "like"
– "My brother is a bear in the mornings"
• simile- A comparison that uses the words "like"
or "as"
– "My mouth was as dry as the desert"
• personification- Giving human traits (qualities,
feelings, action, or characteristics) to non-living
objects (things, colors, qualities, or ideas)
– "The sun smiled"
Figurative Language
• onomatopoeia- Words that imitate the sound
they represent.
– bang, cuckoo, sizzle
• hyperbole- Figurative language in which
extreme exaggeration used to emphasize a point
– http://www.worsleyschool.net/socialarts/hyperbole
/hyperbole2.html
Tips for reading sonnets
• Read the sonnets slowly out loud. It will help
you hear the rhyme, the rhythm of the iambic
pentameter, and the overall beauty of the
language. Remember that sonnets were often
recited aloud with music.
• Read through each sonnet at least two times.
The first time through, listen to the rhythms and
sounds.
Tips for reading sonnets
• The second time you read the sonnet, ask yourself these
questions to find the underlying theme or message
being presented.
• Feel free to read it through a third time or a fourth
time. New meanings or new images may come to mind
each time you read it through.
Reading Tips
As you read each sonnet, ask yourself:
1. Which sonnet form has the poet used?
2. What is the subject of the poem?
3. To whom is the poem addressed?
4. To whom is the speaker writing?
5. What impression do you have of the speaker?
6. What figurative language does the speaker use?
7. What is the poet saying about the subject?
Francesco Petrarch
(1304-1374)
• Petrarch paved the way for the widespread
success and popularity of the sonnet in
Britain.
• Like the Italian poet Dante, Petrarch's poetry
centered on the theme of unrequited love,
which means unreturned, hopeless love.
• Petrarch met a married woman named Laura
and fell deeply in love with her. Though his
love was unrequited, he claimed that Laura
made him a poet.
Francesco Petrarch
• He developed a reputation as a classical scholar and
poet and was invited by both Paris and Rome to be
their poet laureate. He chose Rome, a city rich with
symbols of the traditional glories of his native Italy.
• After Laura and several of his friends died from the
plague, Petrarch compiled the poems he had written
about Laura in a book of poetry. Most of these are part
of a sonnet sequence called the Canzoniere.
• Petrarch was called the "father of Italian language" for
his elevation of the language to an art form.
Francesco Petrarch
Sir Thomas Wyatt
(1503-1542)
• Sir Thomas Wyatt was born in
England and studied at Cambridge
University.
• He was a courtier and a diplomat
in the service of King Henry VIII.
• Wyatt was strongly opinionated
and was arrested and imprisoned
on two separate occasions for
quarrels at court.
Sir Thomas Wyatt
• He was interested in foreign literature. Wyatt, along
with poet Henry Howard, brought the Italian sonnet
to England.
• Like Petrarch, Wyatt experienced unrequited love that
fueled his poetry. He grew up in the same household
with Anne Boleyn and fell in love with her. He was
devastated when she married Henry VIII.
• Wyatt himself never published a collection of his own
poems.
Sir Thomas Wyatt
• After his death, however, 97 of Wyatt's poems were
published in a book originally called simply Songs and
Sonnets.
– It is now known as Tottel's Miscellany. This collection gained
popularity and was influential in the lives of generations of
poets, courtiers, and other readers.
• His poems are superb examples of the Petrarchan, or
Italian, sonnet.
Sir Thomas Wyatt
Sir Philip Sidney (1554-1586)
• Sir Philip Sidney was an admirer of
Petrarch and wrote Petrarchan sonnets.
• His father was the governor of Ireland
three times.
• An Oxford scholar, Sidney quickly
earned a reputation for his grace and
maturity.
• He was a dedicated Protestant,
especially after he saw massacres of
Protestants in France while serving as a
courtier for Queen Elizabeth.
Sir Philip Sidney (1554-1586)
• He wrote poems and prose as well as criticisms of
literature. He argued that poets can create worlds
better than the real world in that their poetry
magnifies the beauty and magic of nature.
• Sidney also served in the army, which is where he died
when he was only 32-years-old.
• The English people deeply mourned their beloved
soldier poet who died in service.
Edmund Spenser (1552-1599)
• Spenser was born to a relatively poor
family in London. However, he was
sponsored to attend a school founded on
humanist ideals.
• He later went to Cambridge University
and afterward became an aide and
secretary to different important men.
• Spenser rubbed elbows with many
influential people. He even presented
poems to Queen Elizabeth.
Edmund Spenser (1552-1599)
• His work took him to Ireland where one of his
employers gave him 3,028 acres, including a castle.
• Spenser's extensive classical and religious education is
evident in his imaginative poems. They also show his
understanding of the philosophy of morality and politics.
• Spenser varied the Italian sonnet into a form called the
Spenserian sonnet. Like Shakespeare's English sonnet,
Spenser's was also grouped into three quatrains and a
couplet. However, its rhymes overlapped: abab bcbc cdcd ee.
Edmund Spenser (1552-1599)
• Spenser wrote in an old style of English to make his
poetry sound antique. He also chose alternate spellings of
words to make rhymes that were pleasing to the eye.
• His best known work is The Faerie Queene. That epic poem
pays tribute to Queen Elizabeth I and the Tudor family.
• Spenser is buried beside Chaucer in what is now known
as the Poet's Corner of Westminster Abbey. It is
rumored that Shakespeare himself attended Spenser's
funeral.
Edmund Spenser (1552-1599)
William Shakespeare (1564-1616)
• The great British playwright, William
Shakespeare, not only wrote many
famous plays, but he also wrote
poetry.
• From 1592 until 1594, when the
theatres in England closed because of
the plague, Shakespeare was left
without much to do. He put on a few
performances for Queen Elizabeth,
and spent the rest of his time writing
poetry.
William Shakespeare (1564-1616)
• Throughout his life he wrote various types of poems,
including 154 sonnets.
• When Shakespeare first began writing sonnets he
wrote in Petrarchan sonnet style. He eventually
switched to the English sonnet style and achieved
fame writing English sonnets.
• Soon the English sonnet became known also as the
Shakespearean sonnet.
William Shakespeare (1564-1616)
• Shakespeare wrote most of his sonnets in sequences.
• One sonnet sequence contains sonnets written to a
handsome young man, giving him advice about his
future and life's choices.
• The subject of his second sonnet sequence is a rival
poet. The third sonnet sequence is written about a
mysterious "Dark Lady."