The Sonnet
Two Major Types
Petrarchan
Shakespearian
Two Major Types
Petrarchan
Shakespearian
Petrarchan Sonnets:
Format:
- 14 lines
– Two Quatrains
– Concluding Sestet
Rhyme Scheme:
Quatrains: octave pattern of
abbaabba
Sestet: cdcdcd, cdecde, cdeed,
cddece or cdcdee
The
Sonnet
Shakespearian Sonnets:
Format:
- 14 lines
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Three Quatrains
Couplet
Rhyme Scheme:
Quatrains: abab, cdcd, and efef
Couplet: gg
The
Sonnet
The Sonnet Terms to know
1. Meter – measuring device
2. Syllable – a unit of sound made in speech
3. Lines - a group of words arranged into a row
arranged to have a certain number of syllables,
stresses, or metrical feet
4. Stanzas – groups of lines forming a unit of
thought in a poem
5.
Rhyme Scheme – The Pattern a rhyme makes
6.
Pentameter- to repeat the iamb five times
7.
Quatrain-Four lines of a stanza or poem.
8.
Sestet: Six lines of a stanza or poem.
9.
Octave: Eight lines of a stanza or poem.
10.
Couplet: Two consecutive lines that must rhyme.
11.
Argument – The Message Of The Poem
12.
Volta: The turning point of the poem
The Sonnet
Terms to
know
The Living
Iambic Pentameter
The Iambic
Pentameter
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Today I know I’ll find my other shoe
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The man I love is quite illiterate
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------now you write an example in your notes
Example of a Petrarchan sonnet: William
Wordsworth's "London, 1802"
Milton! thou shouldst be living at this hour: England hath need of thee: she is a fen Of stagnant waters: altar, sword, and pen, Fireside, the heroic wealth of hall and bower, Have forfeited their ancient English dower Of inward happiness. We are selfish men; Oh! raise us up, return to us again; And give us manners, virtue, freedom, power. Thy soul was like a Star, and dwelt apart; Thou hadst a voice whose sound was like the sea: Pure as the naked heavens, majestic, free, So didst thou travel on life's common way , In cheerful godliness; and yet thy heart The lowliest duties on herself did lay. -
Example of a Petrarchan sonnet: William
Wordsworth's "London, 1802"
Milton! thou shouldst be living at this hour: - A
England hath need of thee: she is a fen - B
Of stagnant waters: altar, sword, and pen, - B
Fireside, the heroic wealth of hall and bower, - A
Have forfeited their ancient English dower - A
Of inward happiness. We are selfish men; - B
Oh! raise us up, return to us again; - B
And give us manners, virtue, freedom, power. - A
Octave - Introduces the theme or problem
Thy soul was like a Star, and dwelt apart; - C
Thou hadst a voice whose sound was like the sea: - D
Pure as the naked heavens, majestic, free, - D
So didst thou travel on life's common way , - E
In cheerful godliness; and yet thy heart - C
The lowliest duties on herself did lay. - E
Sestet - Solves the problem
XCVIII.
From you have I been absent in the spring,
When proud pied April, dressed in all his trim,
Hath put a spirit of youth in every thing,
That heavy Saturn laughed and leapt with him.
Yet nor the lays of birds, nor the sweet smell
Of different flowers in odour and in hue,
Could make me any summer's story tell,
Or from their proud lap pluck them where they grew:
Nor did I wonder at the lily's white,
Nor praise the deep vermilion in the rose;
They were but sweet, but figures of delight,
Drawn after you, you pattern of all those.
Yet seemed it winter still, and you away,
As with your shadow I with these did play.
A
B
A
B
C
D
C
D
E
F
E
F
G
G
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Modern Poets
Bend the Forms. . .
What lips my lips have kissed, and where, and why
(Sonnet XLIII)
Edna St.
Vincent
Millay
18921950
What lips my lips have kissed, and where, and why,
I have forgotten, and what arms have lain
Under my head till morning; but the rain
Is full of ghosts tonight, that tap and sigh
Upon the glass and listen for reply,
And in my heart there stirs a quiet pain
For unremembered lads that not again
Will turn to me at midnight with a cry.
Thus in winter stands the lonely tree,
Nor knows what birds have vanished one by one,
Yet knows its boughs more silent than before:
I cannot say what loves have come and gone,
I only know that summer sang in me
A little while, that in me sings no more.
Note: Her use of enjambment – and the rhyme
scheme of the sestet push the form – also the topic –
not 1 single love
The Haw Lantern
The wintry haw is burning out of season,
crab of the thorn, a small light for small people,
wanting no more from them but that they keep
the wick of self-respect from dying out,
not having to blind them with illumination.
Seamus
Heaney
19392013
But sometimes when your breath plumes in the frost
it takes the roaming shape of Diogenes
with his lantern, seeking one just man;
so you end up scrutinized from behind the haw
he holds up at eye-level on its twig,
and you flinch before its bonded pith and stone,
its blood-prick that you wish would test and clear you,
its pecked-at ripeness that scans you, then moves on.
The Haw Lantern
The wintry haw is burning out of season,
crab of the thorn, a small light for small people,
As I re-read “The Haw Lantern,” it became
clear that the lantern in the poem is a
metaphor; the “haw” is a hawthorn bush, and
the “lantern” is the large red berry, or fruit,
that grows on it (see pictures). The lanternberries, the size of crab apples (“crab of the
thorn”), are shining, but they are doing so in
winter, bearing fruit “out of season":
http://english486r.blogspot.c
o.uk/2009/03/hawlantern.html
The Haw Lantern
But sometimes when your breath plumes in the frost
it takes the roaming shape of Diogenes
with his lantern, seeking one just man;
Assignment : Write a sonnet .
Here are the rules:
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It must consist of 14 lines.
It must be written in iambic pentameter (duh-DUH-duh-DUH-duh-DUH-duh-DUH-duh-DUH).
It must be written in one of various standard rhyme schemes.
If you're writing the most familiar kind of sonnet, the Shakespearean, the rhyme scheme is this:
A
B
A
B
C
D
C
D
E
F
E
F
G
G
Every A rhymes with every A, every B rhymes with every B, and so forth. You'll notice this type of sonnet
consists of three quatrains (that is, four consecutive lines of verse that make up a stanza or division of lines in
a poem) and one couplet (two consecutive rhyming lines of verse).
Create an argument – problem – solution
Review your poem and fix any errors.
Type
Edit
Place in your portfolio
In the Lab
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Create your portfolio
Type your sonnet
Save it to your portfolio
Print sonnet and turn it in for a major grade.
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