Sonnet
Lesson 1 Continued - Imagery
Sonnet
 Format of a Sonnet:
 Must have 14 lines
 Must follow a regular rhymed pattern
 Usually written in iambic pentameter
 Iambic Pentameter:
 Iamb – unstressed syllable followed by a stressed one
(common in ordinary English)
 Pentameter – there are five stressed syllables in each line
(penta is Greek for “five” / meter is Greek for “measure”
 Examples of Iambic Pentameter:
 Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? (William Shakespeare)
 The shattered water made a misty din. (Robert Frost)
Types of Sonnets
 Italian or Petrarchan Sonnet:
 The first 8 lines (the octave) pose a problem, which is
responded to in the final 6 lines (the sestet).
 English or Shakespearean Sonnet:
 3 four-line units are followed by a couplet (2-line unit)
 Modern Variations of Sonnets:
 Poets also create their own types of sonnets, using modern
or contemporary influences.
Questions for “Once by the Pacific”
 Poem by Robert Frost (pg. 423)
1.
What characteristics of a sonnet does this poem have? What type of
sonnet is it? How do you know?
2. Describe the image in lines 1-4. What sense(s) is being triggered by the
imagery?
3. In lines 2-6, what forces of nature seem to be human and alive?
4. Describe the image in lines 5-6. What sense(s) is being triggered by the
imagery?
5. In lines 8-9, what backing do the shore and cliff have? What does the
need for this backing imply?
6. According to lines 10-11, what do the wild waves make the speaker think
of?
7. Whose “rage” is described in line 12? What could cause the rage?
8. What is the mood of this poem? Cite details that help to reveal the
mood.
9. What is the theme of this poem?