Sonnets
Poetry Vocabulary
oStanza: a group of consecutive lines in a poem that form a
single unit (it looks like a paragraph)
oMeter: regular pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables
in poetry
oCouplet: two consecutive lines of poetry that rhyme
oVolta: the shift in thought—from question to answer, or
problem to solution (usually contains the words “but” or
“yet”)
Poetry Vocabulary Continued
oQuatrain: a stanza that has 4 lines
oOctave: a stanza that has 8 lines
oSestet: a stanza that has 6 lines
oIambic pentameter: line of poetry that
contains 10 syllables, alternating in an
unstressed/stressed pattern
What is a sonnet?
oSonnets are poems that meet the following
requirements:
o14 lines long
oWritten in iambic pentameter (most of the time)
oFollow a set rhyme scheme
oContains a “shift” (Volta) located at a certain point
of the poem
There are 3 types of sonnets:
oPetrarchan (also known as Italian): Named after
the Italian poet, Francesco Petrarch
oShakespearean: Named after William
Shakespeare
oSpenserian: Named after Edmund Spenser
Petrarchan (Italian) Sonnet
oMade up of an octave (8 lines)
and a sestet (6 lines)
◦ The octave rhyme scheme: abbaabba
◦ The sestet rhyme scheme: cdecde,
cdcdcd or cdedce
oThe shift comes in between
the octave and the sestet
Petrarchan (Italian)
A
B
B
A
A
B
B
A
C
D
E
C
D
E
Octave (8 lines)
Volta (shift)
Sestet (6 lines)
Petrarchan (Italian) Sonnets
Continued…
oThe octave typically:
oPresents a narrative
oStates a proposition
oOr raises a question
oThe sestet:
odrives home the narrative by making an abstract comment
oapplies the proposition
oor solves the problem.
Shakespearean Sonnets
oMade up of 3 quatrains
(4 lines) and one couplet
(2 lines)
oThe quatrain rhyme scheme: abab cdcd
efef
oThe couplet rhyme scheme: gg
oThe shift comes either after
8 lines or 10 lines
Shakespearean
A
B
A
B
C
D
C
D
E
F
E
F
G
G
3 quatrains
The Volta (shift)
Rhyming
Couplet
Shakespearean Sonnets Continued…
oEach quatrain develops a specific idea that is
still related to the other quatrains
oThe Shakespearean sonnet has the easiest
rhyme scheme
Spenserian Sonnet
oSimilar to the Shakespearean sonnet because it has 3
quatrains (4 lines) and 1 couplet (2 lines), but it
complicates the rhyme scheme by linking the
quatrains
oQuatrain rhyme scheme: abab bcbc cdcd
oCouplet rhyme scheme: ee
oThis type of sonnet is very rare among modern poets
More poetry terms (pg. 1019)
oNarrative poem and lyric poem can be found by
looking up “poetry”
oSymbolism is the same thing as symbol
oDenotation means the dictionary definition of a word
oWe will go over fixed-form and free-form poems
later