The Sonnet
Poetic structure, puzzles, and
genius – all in the name of love
Definition and origin
• - 14 line poem written in iambic
pentameter with a particular rhyme
scheme. The subject is usually some
aspect of human love.
• - origin is 13th century Italy
• - sonetto – means “little sound” or “little
song”
Petrarch
• - 14th Century Italian sonneteer
• - produced most important group of
sonnets
• - wrote 366 poems in his career/ 317 of
which were true sonnets
• - all to Laura
• - all to no avail; she spurns him
• - Wyatt introduces Italian sonnet to
England in (early 1500’s)
Sir Philip Sidney
(check out turtleneck in text, 234)
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- Astrophel and Stella 1580’s (pub.1591)
- 1st great English sonnet sequence
- started “sonnet vogue” in England
- Stella was Penelope Devereaux
- 13 years old when Sidney meets her
- all for naught; she marries Lord Rich
(and he was)
Sonnet Groups
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Organize into 5 groups (4 or 5 per group)
1. Perform
2. Solve the puzzle
3. Demonstrate the meter
4. Identify the rhyme scheme of the sonnet
(Petrarchan, Spenserian, or
Shakespearean)
• 5. What is the conclusive statement
regarding love?
The 2012 Sonnet Challenge
• Write a sonnet
Details (sorry)
• Must conform to all 4 aspects of sonnet
form – length, meter, rhyme (must be one
of three rhymes learned), and subject.
• Sonnet must be turned in Monday,
November 19, during the period we meet.
No exceptions.
• No leeway – all judge’s decisions are
infallible, inevitable, and incisive.
Sonnet Fever
• Central sonnet theme – Love, often unrequited.
Sometimes musings on the nature of true love
and sometimes on the beauty and grace of the
woman the poet loves ( + “strange love”)
• - the sonnet “game” --- solve the puzzle
presented by the poet (What is he saying about
love or the woman he loves?) and take note of
and enjoy the rhythm and rhyme of the sonnet
Sonnet Types
• 1. Italian or Petrarchan
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octave + sestet
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abbaabba + cdecde
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or abababab + cdcdcd
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volta
• 2. Spenserian
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quatrain + quatrain + quatrain + couplet
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abab + bcbc + cdcd + ee
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^
• 3. Shakesperian
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abab + cdcd + efef + gg
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^ ^
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turn volta
Practice Sonnets
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Sonnet 31 (239)
Sonnet 39 (240)
Sonnet 1 (236)
Sonnet 35 (237)
Sonnet 75 (238)
1. Perform – 2 0nly!
2. Solve the puzzle
3. Demonstrate meter
4. Identify type
5. What does the sonnet say about love? What’s its
conclusion?