What is a Sonnet?
Understanding the forms,
meter, rhyme, and other
aspects of the sonnet.
Sonnet Form
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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
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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
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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.
"Sonnet XXIX"
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,
Featured like him, like him with friends possessed,
Desiring this man's art and that man's scope,
With what I most enjoy contented least,
Yet in these thoughts my self 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 remembered such wealth brings,
That then I scorn to change my state with kings.
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B
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B
C
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E
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G
Italian Sonnet
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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 (volta) in subject matter or response must
occur between the octave and the sestet.
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.
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B
B
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E
Spenserian Sonnet
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Invented by Edmond Spencer
It includes three quatrains (12 lines) and a couplet.
The rhyme scheme is abab bcbc cdcd ee
The turn is the couplet.
"Sonnet LIV"
Of this World's theatre in which we stay,
My love like the Spectator idly sits,
Beholding me, that all the pageants play,
Disguising diversely my troubled wits.
Sometimes I joy when glad occasion fits,
And mask in mirth like to a Comedy;
Soon after when my joy to sorrow flits,
I wail and make my woes a Tragedy.
Yet she, beholding me with constant eye,
Delights not in my mirth nor rues my smart;
But when I laugh, she mocks: and when I cry
She laughs and hardens evermore her heart.
What then can move her? If nor mirth nor moan,
She is no woman, but a senseless stone.
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TP-CASTT
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Let us now review the TP-CASTT.
The real question: Why are sonnets written in
form and how does their structure, figurative
language, and imagery influence meaning?
Sonnet 130
My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun;
Coral is far more red than her lips' red;
If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;
If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.
I have seen roses damasked, red and white,
But no such roses see I in her cheeks;
And in some perfumes is there more delight
Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.
I love to hear her speak, yet well I know
That music hath a far more pleasing sound;
I grant I never saw a goddess go;
My mistress when she walks treads on the ground.
And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare
As any she belied with false compare.