COMMUNICATIONS 9 HONORS
ROMEO AND JULIET: SONNETS
The sonnet: A Shakespearean sonnet follows a specific structure:
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It contains three verses with four lines each, and a fourth verse with two lines. Total: 14 lines.
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Within each of the first three verses, the rhyming pattern is such that the last words in the first and third lines rhyme; and the last words in the second and fourth lines rhyme.
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In the fourth verse, which has only two lines (a couplet), the last word of each line rhymes.
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Each of the 14 lines in the poem contains exactly 10 syllables.
An example can be found in the prologue to Act 1 of “Romeo and Juliet”
Two households, both alike in dignity
In fair Verona, where we lay our scene,
From ancient grudge break to new mutiny
Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.
From forth the fatal loins of these two foes,
A pair of star-crossed lovers take their life,
Whose misadventured piteous overthrows
Doth with their death bury their parents’ strife.
The fearful passage of their death-marked love,
A nd the continuance of their parents’ rage,
Which, but their children’s end, naught could remove
Is now the two hours’ traffic of our stage,
The which if you with patient ears attend,
What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend.
The assignment : Write a Shakespearean sonnet about one of your parents, grandparents, or anyone else you admire.
The requirements : Following the guidelines above:
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Three verses, four lines each; fourth verse, two lines
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Correct rhyming pattern
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14 lines, 10 syllables per line: Identify the syllables in each line by numerals. Examples: o The (1) fearful (2,3) passage (4,5) of (6) their (7) death-marked (8,9) love (10) o A (1) pair (2) of (3) star-crossed (4,5) lovers (6,7) take (8) their (9) life (10)
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Your sonnet must include (noted in the sonnet by highlighting, underlining, circling, etc.): o At least one metaphor, one simile, and one example of personification.
o Two examples of reversed sentence construction.
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MUST BE TYPED: ALSO, YOU MUST SUBMIT TWO COPIES: A “CLEAN” VERSION
AND A VERSION IN WHICH YOU IDENTIFY THE SYLLABLES IN EACH LINE BY
NUMERALS; THE METAPHOR, PERSONIFICATION, AND SIMILE; AND THE
EXAMPLES OF REVERSED SENTENCE CONSTRUCTION.
Both copies are due: