What is a Sonnet?
Understanding the forms,
meter, rhyme, and other
aspects of the sonnet.
Sonnet Form
• A sonnet has 14 lines.
• A sonnet must be written in iambic pentameter
• A sonnet must follow a specific rhyme scheme,
depending on the type of sonnet.
• A sonnet can be about any subject, though they are
often about love or nature.
• A sonnet introduces a problem or question in the
beginning, and a resolution is offered after the
“turn”.
Iambic Pentameter
• A line of Iambic Pentameter is a line with
ten beats.
• An “Iamb” is two beats, or one “foot.”
• “Penta” is five (line has five “feet”).
• “Meter” is the rhythm of the poem.
• A “foot” is made of an unstressed syllable
and a stressed syllable (in that order).
English Sonnet
• An English Sonnet is also called a
Shakespearean Sonnet.
• It includes three quatrains (groups of four
lines) and a couplet (two lines).
• The rhyme scheme is often abab cdcd efef
gg.
• The turn is either after eight lines or ten
lines.
Italian Sonnet
• An Italian Sonnet is also called a Petrarchan
•
•
•
Sonnet.
It includes an octave (eight lines) and a sestet
(six lines).
The rhyme scheme must begin with abbaabba,
and can conclude with any variation of c, d, and
e (cdecde, cdcdee, etc.).
The turn must occur between the octave and
the sestet.
What type of sonnet is
“What the Sonnet Is”?
• What are the groupings of the lines (how
many lines are in each group)?
• What is the rhyme scheme?
• Where is the turn?
• Based on your answers, what kind of
sonnet is it?
Write these questions on your paper and
answer them when the sonnet is shown.
“Prologue to Romeo & 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-cross'd lovers take their life;
Whose misadventured piteous overthrows
Do with their death bury their parents' strife.
The fearful passage of their death-mark'd love,
And the continuance of their parents' rage,
Which, but their children's end, nought 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.
What type of sonnet is
“The Prologue”?
Lines are in 3 quatrains (4 lines) and a couplet (2 lines).
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-cross'd lovers take their life;
Whose misadventured piteous overthrows
Do with their death bury their parents' strife.
The fearful passage of their death-mark'd love,
And the continuance of their parents' rage,
Which, but their children's end, nought 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.
What is the Rhyme Scheme?
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-cross'd lovers take their life;
Whose misadventured piteous overthrows
Do with their death bury their parents' strife.
The fearful passage of their death-mark'd love,
And the continuance of their parents' rage,
Which, but their children's end, nought 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.