SONNETS
The fanciest of all love poems
Objective
• You will be able to identify the
qualities of a sonnet by the time you
leave
Bell activity:
Write a poem about love
The Red Pill or the Blue Pill?
Old Dude (e.e. Cummings)
Older Dude (William Shakespeare)
e e Cummings; A brief history
•
e e = Edward Estlin Cummings
•
Born October 14, 1894 – September 3, 1962
•
American poet, painter, essayist, author and play right.
•
Over 2,900 poems, 2 autobiographies, 4 plays and multiple essays
•
He has written many sonnets with a modern twist, and has made use of
many forms such as acrostics (Where the first letter, syllable, or word of a
line spell out a word) and blues (which is a single line repeated four lines
in a lyrical fashion).
•
He is most known for his work with syntax (the way you arrange words
and phrases) and his lack of punctuation
Cummings
Willy Shakes: A History
• English poet, playwright, actor
• April 26, 1564-April 26, 1616
• Best known for:
•
•
•
•
Hamlet
Romeo and Juliet
Macbeth
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
What the hell is a sonnet?
14 Lines
Three Quatrains
Couplet
Meter
(specifically iambic
pentameter)
Rhyme Scheme
What the hell is a sonnet?
14 Lines
Three Quatrains
Couplet
Meter
(specifically iambic
pentameter)
Rhyme Scheme
Sonnet 17: 14 Lines
Who will believe my verse in time to come,
If it were fill'd with your most high deserts?
Though yet Heaven knows it is but as a tomb
Which hides your life and shows not half your parts.
If I could write the beauty of your eyes,
And in fresh numbers number all your graces,
The age to come would say, 'This poet lies,
Such heavenly touches ne'er touch'd earthly faces.'
So should my papers yellow'd with their age,
Be scorn'd like old men of less truth than tongue,
And your true rights be term'd a poet's rage
And stretched metre of an antique song:
But were some child of yours alive that time,
You should live twice,-- in it and in my rhyme.
Sonnet
Sonnet 17: Rhyme Scheme
Who will believe my verse in time to come,
If it were fill'd with your most high deserts?
Though yet Heaven knows it is but as a tomb
Which hides your life and shows not half your parts.
A
B
A
B
If I could write the beauty of your eyes,
And in fresh numbers number all your graces,
The age to come would say, 'This poet lies,
Such heavenly touches ne'er touch'd earthly faces.'
C
D
C
D
So should my papers yellow'd with their age,
Be scorn'd like old men of less truth than tongue,
And your true rights be term'd a poet's rage
And stretched metre of an antique song:
E
F
E
F
But were some child of yours alive that time,
You should live twice,-- in it and in my rhyme.
G
G
Sonnet
Sonnet 17: Three Quatrains
Who will believe my verse in time to come,
If it were fill'd with your most high deserts?
Though yet Heaven knows it is but as a tomb
Which hides your life and shows not half your parts.
If I could write the beauty of your eyes,
And in fresh numbers number all your graces,
The age to come would say, 'This poet lies,
Such heavenly touches ne'er touch'd earthly faces.'
So should my papers yellow'd with their age,
Be scorn'd like old men of less truth than tongue,
And your true rights be term'd a poet's rage
And stretched metre of an antique song:
Sonnet
being to timelessness as it’s to time:
14 Lines
being to timelessness as it’s to time,
love did no more begin than love will end;
where nothing is to breathe to stroll to swim
love is the air the ocean and the land
(do lovers suffer?all divinities
proudly descending put on deathful flesh:
are lovers glad?only their smallest joy’s
a universe emerging from a wish)
love is the voice under all silences,
the hope which has no opposite in fear;
the strength so strong mere force is feebleness:
the truth more first than sun more last than star
-do lovers love?why then to heaven with hell.
Whatever sages say and fools, all’s well
Sonnet
being to timelessness as it’s to time:
Three Quatrains
being to timelessness as it’s to time,
love did no more begin than love will end;
where nothing is to breathe to stroll to swim
love is the air the ocean and the land
(do lovers suffer?all divinities
proudly descending put on deathful flesh:
are lovers glad?only their smallest joy’s
a universe emerging from a wish)
love is the voice under all silences,
the hope which has no opposite in fear;
the strength so strong mere force is feebleness:
the truth more first than sun more last than star
Sonnet
being to timelessness as it’s to time:
Rhyme Scheme
being to timelessness as it’s to time,
love did no more begin than love will end;
where nothing is to breathe to stroll to swim
love is the air the ocean and the land
A
B
A
B
(do lovers suffer?all divinities
proudly descending put on deathful flesh:
are lovers glad?only their smallest joy’s
a universe emerging from a wish)
C
D
C
D
love is the voice under all silences,
the hope which has no opposite in fear;
the strength so strong mere force is feebleness:
the truth more first than sun more last than star
E
F
E
F
-do lovers love?why then to heaven with hell.
Whatever sages say and fools, all’s well
G
G
Sonnet
Couplets
Sonnet 17
But were some child of yours alive that time,
You should live twice,-- in it and in my rhyme.
G
G
being to timelessness as it’s to time
-do lovers love?why then to heaven with hell.
Whatever sages say and fools, all’s well
G
G
Sonnet
What’s the Meter
with you
The basic rhythmic structure of verse
Sonnet
Key Terms
•
The meter of a verse can be described as a sequence of
feet.
•
Iambs are a kind of foot that is an unstressed syllable
followed by a stressed syllable.
•
When a pair of syllables is arranged as an unstressed
followed by a stressed pattern, then the foot is
considered iambic.
•
One of the more common kinds of meters is iambic
pentameter which is a metrical measurement of five
iambs together.
Sonnet
Stressed vs. unstressed
Say the following words:
Being
beING
To
to
Timelessness
It’s
TIMElessNESS
as
IT’S
To
to
Time
TIME
As
Sonnet
For Iambic feet, it is an unstressed syllable followed
by a stressed.
The rhythm can be written (or remembered) as such:
da DUM
This is like the human heartbeat and is a good way to
remember that rhythm.
A line would look something like:
da DUM
da DUM
da DUM
da DUM
da DUM
Sonnet
Let’s try it out!
Cummings
Shakespeare
Rhyme Time
Rhyme These Words
• Car
• Flesh
• Wall
• Foot
• Chair
• Orange
• Line
• End
• Bike
• Fear
• Show
• Heart
How do we map rhymes?
• We start by labeling the first rhyme with an
A and every matching line with an A
• Every new rhyme is marked by the
subsequent letter.
• So car rhymes with bar  A
• But cat rhymes with mat  B
Cummings
What is the rhyme scheme?
Who will believe my verse in time to come,
If it were fill'd with your most high deserts?
Though yet Heaven knows it is but as a tomb
Which hides your life and shows not half your parts.
Shakespeare
What is the rhyme scheme here?
being to timelessness as it’s to time,
love did no more begin than love will end;
where nothing is to breathe to stroll to swim
love is the air the ocean and the land
Cummings
Be sure to hand your poems in to
Ms. Anderson before you leave