The Sonnet
Definition
• A sonnet is:
– A fourteen-line
poem
• A sonnet has:
– A set rhyme
scheme
– A set number of
syllables in each
line – usually 10

This 10-syllable per
line structure is called
iambic pentameter
Meter
• Meter involves the rhythm established by a poem
– Usually dependent not only on the number of
syllables in a line, but also on the way those
syllables are accented
– This rhythm is often described as a pattern of
stressed and unstressed syllables
– The rhythmic unit is often described as a foot
• A foot may be iambic, which follows a pattern of
unstressed/stressed syllables
Iambic Pentameter
• A line of iambic pentameter is a line of poetry
which follows a pattern of weak and strong
stresses:
– weak STRONG / weak STRONG / weak
STRONG / weak STRONG / weak STRONG
• An iamb is one of the “weak STRONG” units
• “Penta” means five - iambic pentameter has 5
iambs
• One iamb = One foot (a foot is a repeating
segment used to build a line of poetry)
• One line of iambic pentameter has five feet (10
syllables)
Sonnet Terms
• Stanza – recurring unit of a poem,
consisting of a group of verses
• Couplet – two lines rhyming together
(simplest form)
• Quatrain – stanza of four lines
• Octave – two quatrains (eight lines)
• Tercet - three lines
• Sestet – two tercets (six lines)
History of the Sonnet
• Originated in the Middle Ages
in Italy and France
• Main form of English poetry in
the late sixteenth and early
seventeenth centuries
• Revived several times from the
early-nineteenth century to the
present
• Usually focuses on expressing
intense feelings and emotions
Francesco Petrarch
 1304-1374: Italian
 Many early English
sonnets were simply
Petrarchan sonnets in
translation
 Petrarch’s sonnets written
to “Laura” – his great love
Love poems
Petrarch
Petrarchan Sonnet (Italian)
• Petrarchan Conceit - Comparison made
generally by a suffering lover of his beautiful and
cruel mistress to a physical object
• Petrarch explores the contrary states of feelings
a lover experiences as he desires and idolises
an unattainable lady
• Some conventional themes concern the lady’s
great beauty, her power over him, her cruelty to
him, his sleeplessness, or the pain of her
absence
Petrarchan Purpose
• The Petrarchan Sonnet is often a
poem with two points to make
– One in the octave and one in the sestet
• Generally, the octave states the main
idea of the poem
Petrarchan Purpose, cont’d
• The sestet:
– Illustrates the idea from the octave
– Provides an application or example of
the idea from the octave
– Reverses the main idea and achieves a
paradox or irony in the poem
• Or, the poem may merely balance
two arguments, one in the octave and
one in the sestet
The Petrarchan Volta
• The change in idea
from the octave to the
sestet is called the
“turn” or the “volta”
• It occurs at the
beginning of line 9
Petrarchan Rhyme Scheme
A
B
B
A
1st quatrain
 Octave (meditation or exploration of a problem or an issue)
A
B
B
A
2nd quatrain
Volta (turn)
C
D
E
C
D
C
1st tercet
or
C
D
E
2nd
tercet
C
D
E
 Sestet (resolution)
or
D
C
D
C
E
D
Example: John Milton, “When I Consider
How My Light is Spent”
When I consider how my light is spent,
Ere half my days in this dark world and wide,
And that one talent which is death to hide
Lodged with me useless, though my soul more bent
To serve therewith my Maker, and present
My true account, lest He returning chide;
"Doth God exact day-labor, light denied?"
I fondly ask. But Patience, to prevent
That murmur, soon replies, "God doth not need
Either man's work or His own gifts. Who best
Bear His mild yoke, they serve Him best. His state
Is kingly: thousands at His bidding speed,
And post o'er land and ocean without rest;
They also serve who only stand and wait."
William Shakespeare (English)
 1564 – 1616
 Innovations in sonnet form
and content
 Sonnet Cycle (untitled)
-154 sonnets
-most written by 1597-98
-published in 1609
-three characters (poet,
beautiful youth, dark lady)
William Shakespeare
Shakespearean Sonnet
• Shakespeare’s sonnet moods included
delight, pride, melancholy, shame, disgust,
and fear
• The vocabulary is usually simple and the
metaphorical style is rich
Purpose
• The Shakespearean Sonnet has two main
purposes:
– It can set up brief, cumulative images
– It can make a three-step argument
• The rhyming couplet is usually a quick
summary at the end
– This is the Shakespearean version of the
volta
Shakespearean Rhyme
Scheme
A
B
A
B
1st quatrain
C
D 2nd quatrain
C
D
E
F
E
F
3rd quatrain
Volta (turn)
G
G couplet (resolution involves a compressed statement)
Example: William Shakespeare, “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 fixèd mark
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wand'ring 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 proved,
I never writ, nor no man ever loved.