The Sonnet
A sonnet is
a
lyric poem
 consisting of fourteen lines
 written in iambic pentameter
 with a definite rhyme scheme
 and a definite thought structure
 A sonnet introduces a problem or
question in the beginning, and a
resolution is offered after the turn.
A lyric poem
 Deals
with
emotions,
feelings
Iambic pentameter consists of
 five
measures, units, or meters, of
 iambs
An iamb is a metrical foot
consisting of
an unaccented syllable U
followed by an accented
syllable /.
U
a
U
im
/
mor
/
gain
U
tal
/
ize
Iambic pentameter
1




2
3
4
5
U
/ U /
U
/ U / U
/
One day I wrote her name u pon the strand,
U
/
U
/
U
/
U/U /
But came the waves and wash ed it a way:
U / U / U / U / U
/
A gain I wrote it with a sec ond hand,
U
/
U /
U
/
U
/
U /
But came the tide, and made my pains his prey

Edmund Spenser, Amoretti, Sonnet 75
A little video to help you with
Iambic Pentameter
Sonnet = 14 line lyric
poem
all contain a turn =
tone shifts
Rhyme Scheme
PETRARCHAN SONNET
1350-1550
Italian
Poets
Francesco Petrarcha (English
= Petrarch)
hundreds of numbered
sonnets
Famous
Sonnets/Sonnet
Sequence (linked by
theme or person
addressed)
Themes
eight line octave
abba abba = poses a problem
six line sestet
cdecde = problem answered
unattainable love, longing for
an idealized lady
SPENSERIAN
SONNET
1500-1580
English
abab bcbc cdcdee
 Edmund Spencer
 Sir Philip Sidney
Spencer
 Fairie Queene
 Amoretti (in text book, Sonnet 1, 35, 75)
Sidney
 Astrophel and Stella (in text book Sonnet
31, 39)
frustration, loneliness or disappointment with
love
SHAKESPEAREAN
SONNET
1570-1600
English
abab cdcd efef gg
 3 quatrains
 1 rhyming couplet = often a dramatic
statement that resolves, restates or
redefines the central problem of the sonnet
 Normally written in iambic pentameter
William Shakespeare
154 Sonnets addressed to:
1.young man
2.“dark lady”
3.rival poet
time, death, love, and friendship
What type of sonnet is
“What the Sonnet Is”?
 What
are the groupings of the lines
(how many lines are in each group)?
 What is the rhyme scheme?
 Where is the turn?
 Based on your answers, what kind of
sonnet is it?
Write these questions on your paper
and answer them when the sonnet is
shown.
“What the Sonnet is”
Fourteen small broidered berries on the hem
Of Circe’s mantle, each of magic gold;
Fourteen of lone Calypso’s tears that rolled
Into the sea, for pearls to come of them;
Fourteen clear signs of omen in the gem
With which Medea human fate foretold;
Fourteen small drops, which Faustus, growing old,
Craved of the Fiend, to water Life’s dry stem.
It is the pure white diamond Dante brought
To Beatrice; the sapphire Laura wore
When Petrarch cut it sparkling out of thought;
The ruby Shakespeare hewed from his heart’s core;
The dark, deep emerald that Rossetti wrought
For his own soul, to wear for evermore.
~Eugene Lee-Hamilton
What type of sonnet is
“What the Sonnet Is”?
Lines are in an octave (eight lines) and a sestet (six
lines).
Fourteen small broidered berries on the hem
Of Circe’s mantle, each of magic gold;
Fourteen of lone Calypso’s tears that rolled
Into the sea, for pearls to come of them;
Fourteen clear signs of omen in the gem
With which Medea human fate foretold;
Fourteen small drops, which Faustus, growing old,
Craved of the Fiend, to water Life’s dry stem.
It is the pure white diamond Dante brought
To Beatrice; the sapphire Laura wore
When Petrarch cut it sparkling out of thought;
The ruby Shakespeare hewed from his heart’s core;
The dark, deep emerald that Rossetti wrought
For his own soul, to wear for evermore.
What type of sonnet is
“What the Sonnet Is”?
Rhyme scheme is abbaabba cdcdcd.
Fourteen small broidered berries on the hem
Of Circe’s mantle, each of magic gold;
Fourteen of lone Calypso’s tears that rolled
Into the sea, for pearls to come of them;
Fourteen clear signs of omen in the gem
With which Medea human fate foretold;
Fourteen small drops, which Faustus, growing old,
Craved of the Fiend, to water Life’s dry stem.
It is the pure white diamond Dante brought
To Beatrice; the sapphire Laura wore
When Petrarch cut it sparkling out of thought;
The ruby Shakespeare hewed from his heart’s core;
The dark, deep emerald that Rossetti wrought
For his own soul, to wear for evermore.

What type of sonnet is
“What the Sonnet Is”?
The turn in this sonnet is between the
octave and the sestet, or after eight lines.
 The period at the end of line eight is a clue
that this is the turn, especially because it
is one of only two periods in the sonnet.
 Before the turn, the speaker is telling of
groups of fourteen; after the turn, he tells
of who wrote the sonnets.

What type of sonnet is
“What the Sonnet Is”?
“What the Sonnet Is” is
an Italian/Petrarchan
Sonnet!
Rhyme scheme
 Petrarchan
(Italian) rhyme scheme:
abba, abba, cd, cd, cd
abba, abba, cde, cde
 Shakespearean
(English, or
Elizabethan) rhyme scheme:
abab, cdcd, efef, gg
Sonnet 18
Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date:
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimmed,
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance, or nature's changing course untrimmed:
But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st,
Nor shall death brag thou wander'st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st,
So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
A
B
A
B
C
d
C
D
E
F
E
F
G
G
Thought structure


Octave/ sestet
The octave, eight lines, presents a
situation or idea.
The sestet (sextet), six lines, responds,
to the situation or idea in the octave.
Quatrain, quatrain, quatrain, couplet
Each quatrain, four lines, describes an
idea or situation which leads to a
conclusion or response in the couplet, two
lines.
 Power
point adapted/compiled from
 www.wou.edu/~bgodlev/sonnet_po
werpoint.ppt
 www.schatzonline.com/Powerpoint/
Sonnet.ppt