Day 4: Sonnet Comparison
Objectives:
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Know – Students will know that English, Italian, and Spenserian sonnets have 14 lines, consisting
of quatrains and couplets or quatrains and tercets.
Understand – Students will know that different sonnets have particular rhyme schemes.
Do – Students will be able to compare and contrast the rhyme schemes and other poetic
elements of English, Italian, and Spenserian sonnets.
Do – Students will be able to practice following a rhyme scheme and writing their own poem.
Standards:
CE 1.1.1, CE 1.1.2, CE 1.1.3, CE 1.3.1, CE 1.3.7, CE 1.3.8, CE 1.3.9, CE 1.5.1, CE 1.5.3, CE 2.1.5, CE 2.1.11,
CE 3.1.1, CE 3.2.1, CE 3.2.2
Materials:
Chalkboard, whiteboard, or overhead projector to write on
Writing utensil(s)
Paper
Different colored pens, crayons, colored pencils, markers, or highlighters
Information on sonnet forms
Shakespeare’s (English) Sonnet XIX [When in disgrace with fortunes and men’s eyes…]
Milton’s (Italian Sonnet) [When I consider how my light is spent…]
Spenser’s (Spenserian) Sonnet LXXV [One day I wrote her name upon the strand…]
Slip of paper or notecard with assessment questions
Lesson Plan:
Students will mark the different rhyme schemes on Shakespeare’s, Milton’s, and Spenser’s sonnets and
will then compare and contrast them (Students can color-code again.) (15-20 minutes). Prompts to use,
if necessary:
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How many lines do each of the sonnets have?
What is similar about the stanzas or lines?
What is different about the stanzas or lines?
Do you see any patterns between the stanzas?
After assessing what the students know (hopefully they will notice the lines of 4, 3, and 2), explain the
rhyme scheme for each sonnet form as well as the terms quatrain, tercet, and couplet. Discuss as a class
(5-10 minutes).
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English (Shakespearean) Sonnet – abab (quatrain), cdcd (quatrain), efef (quatrain), [turn] gg
(couplet)
Italian (Petrarchan) Sonnet – abba (quatrain) & abba (quatrain) = octave, [turn], cde (tercet) &
cde (tercet) = sestet
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Spenserian Sonnet – abab (quatrain), bcbc (quatrain), cdcd (quatrain), ee (couplet); *bb & cc =
couplet links
Hand out Quick Quiz (5-10 minutes).
Use remainder of class for students to continue working on their own sonnets.
Assessment Method:
Quick Quiz – After students clear their desks, hand out the following questions on a slip of paper or
notecard before students leave and have students turn them in:
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How many lines does a sonnet have?
What is a quatrain?
What is a tercet?
What is a couplet?
Who developed English sonnets?
Who developed Italian sonnets?
Who developed the third sonnet we talked about? (Don’t think too hard .)
Of the three authors we talked about today who wrote sonnets, who is probably the most
famous for writing sonnets?
Who wrote “Jabberwocky”?
What else did you learn today?
Homework:
Finish sonnets.
Read Ellis’ “Raised by Women.”
Resources:
http://www.sonnets.org/basicforms.htm
Attachments:
Taken from http://www.sonnets.org/shakespeare.htm#029
“Sonnet XIX” by William Shakespeare
When in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes,
I all alone beweep my outcast state,
And trouble deaf Heaven with my bootless cries,
And look upon myself, and curse my fate,
Wishing me like to one more rich in hope,
Featur'd like him, like him with friends possess'd,
Desiring this man's art, and that man's scope,
With what I most enjoy contented least:
Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising,
Haply I think on thee,--and then my state
(Like to the lark at break of day arising
From sullen earth) sings hymns at heaven's gate;
For thy sweet love remember'd such wealth brings
That then I scorn to change my state with kings'.
Taken from http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/16078
“When I Consider How My Light Is Spent” by John Milton
When I consider how my light is spent,
Ere half my days in this dark world and wide,
And that one talent which is death to hide
Lodged with me useless, though my soul more bent
To serve therewith my Maker, and present
My true account, lest He returning chide;
"Doth God exact day-labor, light denied?"
I fondly ask. But Patience, to prevent
That murmur, soon replies, "God doth not need
Either man's work or His own gifts. Who best
Bear His mild yoke, they serve Him best. His state
Is kingly: thousands at His bidding speed,
And post o'er land and ocean without rest;
They also serve who only stand and wait."
Taken from http://www.sonnets.org/spenser.htm#075
“Sonnet LXXV” by Edmund Spenser
One day I wrote her name upon the strand,
But came the waves and washed it away:
Again I wrote it with a second hand,
But came the tide, and made my pains his prey.
Vain man, said she, that dost in vain assay
A mortal thing so to immortalize!
For I myself shall like to this decay,
And eek my name be wiped out likewise.
Not so (quoth I), let baser things devise
To die in dust, but you shall live by fame:
My verse your virtues rare shall eternize,
And in the heavens write your glorious name;
Where, whenas death shall all the world subdue,
Our love shall live, and later life renew.