Three Types of Sonnets
*Italian/Petrarchan
*Spenserian
*Shakespearean
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
14 lines
End rhyme – last word/syllable of line
Subject = Love
Speaker = Man to the woman he loves
Problem/Situation
6. Turn – change in focus, thought, or attitude
7. Resolution – solution or acceptance of
situation
Italian/Petrarchan Sonnet
*Francesco Petrarch (1301-1374)
*dedicated to Laura, woman he loved
*ideal of virtue & beauty
*proud
*unattainable
*indifferent to poet
Italian/Petrarchan Sonnet Structure
1 OCTAVE (8 lines)
~ describes situation/problem
~ rhyme scheme (abbaabba)
1 SESTET (6 lines)
~ turn & resolution
~ rhyme scheme (cdecde)
Shakespearean & Spenserian Sonnets
SIMILARITIES
3 Quatrians (4 lines)
* Problem/Situation (Q 1-2)
* Turn (Q 3)
Concluding Couplet (2 lines)
* Resolution
Shakespearean & Spenserian Sonnets
Shakespearean
William Shakespeare
Rhyme Scheme
Quatrain 1 (abab)
Quatrain 2 (cdcd)
Quatrian 3 (efef)
Couplet (gg)
vs.
Spenserian
Edmund Spenser
Rhyme Scheme
Quatrain 1 (abab)
Quatrain 2 (bcbc)
Quatrian 3 (cdcd)
Couplet (ee)
Quiz - Sonnets
Quiz - Sonnets
1. All of the following elements are
characteristic of an English sonnet
except
a. introduction of the subject in the first few
lines
b. fourteen lines
c. free verse
d. iambic pentameter
Quiz – Sonnets continued
2. The English sonnet forms originated in
a. the plays of Shakespeare
b. the Spenserian conceit
c. the Italian sonnets of Petrarch
d. the Renaissance love songs
Quiz – Sonnets continued
3. What is another name for the
Petrarchan sonnet?
a. the Italian sonnet
b. the Heptameter sonnet
c. the English sonnet
d. the Octavian sonnet
Quiz – Sonnets continued
4. The Shakespearean sonnet consists of
a. one octave and one sestet
b. three quatrains and one couplet
c. two tercets and one cinquain
d. one sestet and four couplets
Quiz – Sonnets continued
5. Which of the following is the rhyme
scheme of a Petrarchan sonnet?
a. abba, cddc, abba, cddc, ee ff
b. abab, cdcd, efef, gg
c. abba, cdcd, abba, efef, ffgg
d. abba, abba, cde, cde
Quiz – Sonnets continued
6. The sonnets of Shakespeare and
Spenser can be distinguished from one
another by
a. the couplet at the end of Shakespearean
sonnets
b. the rhyme scheme
c. the turn after the first eight lines
d. Spenser’s use of iambic pentameter
Quiz – Sonnets continued
7. Which of the following writers was one
of the earliest masters of the sonnet?
a. Elizabeth Barrett Browning
b. John Keats
c. Edmund Spenser
d. Robert Lowell
Quiz – Sonnets continued
8. Which of the following is the rhyme
scheme of a Shakespearean sonnet?
a. abba, abba, cde, cde
b. abba, cdcd, abba, efef, ffgg
c. abba, cddc, abba, cddc, ee ff
d. abab, cdcd, efef, gg
Quiz – Sonnets continued
9. A turn can best be described as
a. the change or shift that occurs after the
first eight lines of a sonnet
b. the first quatrain in a Shakespearean
sonnet
c. a conceit in a Petrarchan sonnet
d. the main idea that is expressed in the first
eight lines of a sonnet
Quiz – Sonnets continued
10. The last group of lines in a sonnet
usually
a. has different meter than the rest of the
poem
b. comments on the subject of the poem
c. rhymes with the first two lines of the poem
d. introduces a new subject