Romeo & Juliet
William Shakespeare
Shakespeare Develops His Own Sonnet
William Shakespeare's first and second years in London were spent writing in the
“Petrarchan” style, after the Italian poet, Francesco Petrarca. Then he developed his own
style of sonnets. The sonnet, which the Italian word “sonetto” means “little
song”, is a lyric poem of 14 lines with a formal rhyme scheme and logical
structure. It expresses different aspects of a thought, mood, or feeling.
William Shakespeare composed 154 sonnets in his lifetime. After his first two years in
London, Shakespeare started writing in the English or “Shakespearean” sonnet form.
According to some scholars, the English sonnet was made for a language less beautiful in
rhymes than Italian.
The sonnet consists of three quatrains (4-lined stanzas),
each rhymed differently, with an independently rhymed couplet
(two line stanza) at the end. The rhyme scheme of the
Shakespearean (English) sonnet is abab, cdcd, efef, gg. Each
quatrain takes a different appearance of the idea or develops a
different image to express the theme. All of Shakespeare's sonnets
were in this form except for the poems he wrote earlier in life.
http://www.springfield.k12.il.us/schools/springfield/eliz/Sonnets.html
This example, Shakespeare's Sonnet 116, illustrates the form of his sonnet:
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.
(a)
(b)
(a)
(b)
O no, it is an ever fixed mark
(c)
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
(d)
It is the star to every wand'ring barque,
(c)
Whose worth's unknown although his height be taken. (d)
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.
(e)
(f)
(e)
(f)
If this be error and upon me proved,
I never writ, nor no man ever loved.
(g)
(g)
Now, it’s your turn. See if you can write a sonnet following Shakespeare’s rhyme
scheme.
Romeo & Juliet
William Shakespeare
Shakespeare Develops His Own Sonnet
William Shakespeare's first and second years in London were spent writing in the
“Petrarchan” style, after the Italian poet, Francesco Petrarca. Then he developed his own
style of sonnets. The sonnet, which the __________________________________
is a _____________________________ with a formal rhyme scheme and logical
structure. It _____________________________________________________.
William Shakespeare composed 154 sonnets in his lifetime. After his first two years in
London, Shakespeare started writing in the English or “Shakespearean” sonnet form.
According to some scholars, the English sonnet was made for a language less beautiful in
rhymes than Italian.
The sonnet consists of _____________________________
each rhymed differently, with an independently rhymed ________
_____________ at the end. The _______________ of the
Shakespearean (English) sonnet is_____________________.
Each quatrain takes a different appearance of the idea or develops a
different image to express the theme. All of Shakespeare's sonnets
were in this form except for the poems he wrote earlier in life.
This example, Shakespeare's Sonnet 116, illustrates the form of his sonnet:
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.
(a)
(b)
(a)
(b)
O no, it is an ever fixed mark
(c)
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
(d)
It is the star to every wand'ring barque,
(c)
Whose worth's unknown although his height be taken. (d)
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.
(e)
(f)
(e)
(f)
If this be error and upon me proved,
I never writ, nor no man ever loved.
(g)
(g)
Now, it’s your turn. See if you can write a sonnet following Shakespeare’s rhyme
scheme.