A sonnet is a very strict form with a
lot of rules…
A sonnet is a lyric poem
 All sonnets have fourteen lines
 Sonnets are written in iambic pentameter
 Sonnets have a strict rhyme scheme
 Sonnets have a definite thought structure

The Two Types of Sonnets

Shakespearean
 Also called
Elizabethan or
English
 Divided into 3
quatrains and 1
couplet
 Rhyme Scheme=
ABAB CDCD EFEF GG

Petrarchan
 Also called Italian
 Divided into an
octave and a sestet
 Rhyme Scheme=
ABBA ABBA CDECDE
or
ABBA ABBA CD CD CD
An iamb is a metrical foot or unit
consisting of two syllables:
a unstressed syllable: U
followed by an stressed syllable: /
a
im
U
mor
U
gain
/
tal
/
U
ize
/
Iambic pentameter
1
2
U



U
/
U
4
/
U
5
/
U
/
One day /I wrote/ her name/ upon/ the strand,
U
/
U
/
U
/
U
/U
/
But came the waves and wash ed it a way:
U

/
3
/U
/
U
/ U
/ U
/
A gain I wrote it with a second hand,
U
/
U
/
U
/
U
/
U
/
But came the tide, and made my pains his prey
- Edmund Spenser, Amoretti, Sonnet 75
Rhyme scheme

Like we said earlier… there are two types
of sonnets. Each has a different rhyme
pattern:

Petrarchan (Italian) rhyme scheme:
abba, abba, cd, cd, cd
abba, abba, cde, cde

Shakespearean (English, or Elizabethan)
rhyme scheme:
abab, cdcd, efef, gg
Let’s take a look at a
Shakespearean Sonnet….
First we’ll examine the form…
 How many lines will it have?
 What type of stanzas are those lines
divided into?
 How many syllables in each line?
 And the rhyme scheme?

Sonnet 27
1. Weary with toil, I haste me to my bed
2. The dear repose for limbs with travel tired;
3. But then begins a journey in my head
4. To work my mind, when body's work's expired:
5. For then my thoughts--from far where I abide
6. Intend a zealous pilgrimage to thee,
7. And keep my drooping eyelids open wide,
8. Looking on darkness which the blind do see:
9. Save that my soul's imaginary sight
10. Presents thy shadow to my sightless view,
11. Which, like a jewel hung in ghastly night,
12. Makes black night beauteous, and her old
face new.
13. Lo! thus, by day my limbs, by night my mind,
14. For thee, and for myself, no quiet find.
A
B
A
B
C
D
C
D
E
F
E
F
G
G
Let’s take a look at the rhyme scheme of this sonnet…
Thought structure

Every Shakespearean sonnet is made up of
three quatrains and a couplet

Quatrain, quatrain, quatrain, couplet
Each quatrain, four lines, describes an idea or
situation which leads to a conclusion or
response in the couplet, two lines.
1. Weary with toil, I haste me to my bed,
2. The dear repose for limbs with travel tired;
3. But then begins a journey in my head
4. To work my mind, when body's work's expired:
The first
quatrain describes
that the speaker
needs to rest but
cannot mentally
rest.
The 2nd quatrain
5. For then my thoughts--from far where I abide— describes the
reason the speaker
6. Intend a zealous pilgrimage to thee,
cannot rest
7. And keep my drooping eyelids open wide,
(thinking of a loved
8. Looking on darkness which the blind do see:
one).
The 3rd quatrain
9. Save that my soul's imaginary sight
explains that his
10. Presents thy shadow to my sightless view,
beloved will light
11. Which, like a jewel hung in ghastly night,
the darkness of
12. Makes black night beauteous, and her old face new. the night even in
thought.
13. Lo! thus, by day my limbs, by night my mind, The couplet sums
14. For thee, and for myself, no quiet find.
this up. The
.
poem concludes
that the speaker
will not rest.
Scansion Homework:

Write two lines of iambic pentameter
and mark the scansion

Then, write two lines of trochaic
pentameter and mark the scansion