Basic Sonnet Forms Basic Sonnet Forms Return to Sonnet Central home . A sonnet is fundamentally a dialectical construct which allows the poet to examine the nature and ramifications of two usually contrastive ideas,emotions, states of mind, beliefs, actions, events, images, etc., byjuxtaposing the two against each other, and possibly resolving or justrevealing the tensions created and operative between the two. O. K., so much for the fancy language. Basically, in a sonnet, youshow two related but differing things to the reader in order to communicatesomething about them. Each of the three major types of sonnets accomplishesthis in a somewhat different way. There are, of course, other types of sonnets,as well, but I'll stick for now to just the basic three (Italian, Spenserian, English), with a brief look at some non-standard sonnets. I. The Italian (or Petrarchan) Sonnet: The basic meter of all sonnets in English is iambic pentameter ( basic information on iambic pentameter),although there have been a few tetrameter and even hexametersonnets, as well.

The Italian sonnet is divided into two sections by two differentgroups of rhyming sounds. The first 8 lines is called the octaveand rhymes: a b b a a b b a The remaining 6 lines is called the sestet and can haveeither two or three rhyming sounds, arranged in a variety ofways: c d c d c d c d d c d c c d e c d e c d e c e d c d c e d c The exact pattern of sestet rhymes (unlike the octave pattern)is flexible. In strict practice, the one thing that is to be avoidedin the sestet is ending with a couplet (dd or ee), as this wasnever permitted in Italy, and Petrarch himself (supposedly) never used a couplet ending; in actual practice, sestets aresometimes ended with couplets (Sidney's "Sonnet LXXI givenbelow is an example of such a terminal couplet in an Italiansonnet). The point here is that the poem is divided into two sections bythe two differing rhyme groups.

In accordance with the principle(which supposedly applies to all rhymed poetry but oftendoesn't), a change from one rhyme group to another signifiesa change in subject matter. This change occurs at thebeginning of L9 in the Italian sonnet and is called the volta,or "turn"; the turn is an essential element of the sonnet form, perhaps the essential element. It is at the volta thatthe second idea is introduced, as in this sonnet by Wordsworth: "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.

Here, the octave develops the idea of the decline and corruption of the English race, while the sestet opposes to that loss the qualities Milton possessed which the race now desperately needs. A very skillful poet can manipulate the placement of the volta for dramatic effect, although this is difficult to do well. An extremeexample is this sonnet by Sir Philip Sidney, which delays the voltaall the way to L 14: "Sonnet LXXI" Who will in fairest book of Nature know How Virtue may best lodged in Beauty be, Let him but learn of Love to read in thee, Stella, those fair lines, which true goodness show. There shall he find all vices' overthrow, Not by rude force, but sweetest sovereignty Of reason, from whose light those night-birds fly; That inward sun in thine eyes shineth so. And not content to be Perfection's heir Thyself, dost strive all minds that way to move, Who mark in thee what is in thee most fair. So while thy beauty draws the heart to love, As fast thy Virtue bends that love to good.

"But, ah," Desire still cries, "give me some food." Here, in giving 13 lines to arguing why Reason makes clearto him that following Virtue is the course he should take, he seems to be heavily biassing the argument in Virtue'sfavor. But the volta powerfully undercuts the arguments of Reason in favor of Virtue by revealing that Desire isn't amenableto Reason. There are a number of variations which evolved over time to make iteasier to write Italian sonnets in English.

Most common is a changein the octave rhyming pattern from a b b a a b b a to a b b a a c c a,eliminating the need for two groups of 4 rhymes, something not alwayseasy to come up with in English which is a rhyme-poor language.Wordsworth uses that pattern in the following sonnet, along with aterminal couplet: "Scorn Not the Sonnet" Scorn not the Sonnet; Critic, you have frowned, Mindless of its just honours; with this key Shakespeare unlocked his heart; the melody Of this small lute gave ease to Petrarch's wound; A thousand times this pipe did Tasso sound; With it Camoens soothed an exile's grief; The Sonnet glittered a gay myrtle leaf Amid the cypress wtih which Dante crowned His visionary brow: a glow-worm lamp, It cheered mild Spenser, called from Faery-land To struggle through dark ways; and when a damp Fell round the path of Milton, in his hand The Thing became a trumpet; whence he blew Soul-animating strains--alas, too few!

Another variation on the Italian form is this one, byTennyson's older brother Charles Tennyson-Turner,who wrote 342 sonnets, many in variant forms.Here, Turner uses an a b b a c d c d e f f e f epattern, with the volta delayed until the middleof L9: "Missing the Meteors" A hint of rain--a touch of lazy doubt-- Sent me to bedward on that prime of nights, When the air met and burst the aerolites, Making the men stare and the children shout: Why did no beam from all that rout and rush Of darting meteors, pierce my drowsed head? Strike on the portals of my sleep? and flush My spirit through mine eyelids, in the stead Of that poor vapid dream? My soul was pained, My very soul, to have slept while others woke, While little children their delight outspoke, And in their eyes' small chambers entertained Far notions of the Kosmos! I mistook The purpose of that night--it had not rained. II.

The Spenserian Sonnet: The Spenserian sonnet, invented by Edmund Spenseras an outgrowth of the stanza pattern he used in TheFaerie Queene (a b a b b c b c c), has the pattern: a b a b b c b c c d c d e e Here, the "abab" pattern sets up distinct four-linegroups, each of which develops a specific idea;however, the overlapping a, b, c, and d rhymes form thefirst 12 lines into a single unit with a separated finalcouplet. The three quatrains then develop threedistinct but closely related ideas, with a differentidea (or commentary) in the couplet.

Interestingly,Spenser often begins L9 ofhis sonnets with "But" or "Yet," indicating a voltaexactly where it would occur in the Italian sonnet;however, if one looks closely, one often finds that the "turn" here really isn't one at all, that the actualturn occurs where the rhyme pattern changes, withthe couplet, thus giving a 12 and 2 line pattern very different from the Italian 8 and 6 line pattern (actualvolta marked by italics): "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. III. The English (or Shakespearian) Sonnet: The English sonnet has the simplest and most flexiblepattern of all sonnets, consisting of 3 quatrains of alternating rhyme and a couplet: a b a b e f e f g g As in the Spenserian, each quatrain develops aspecific idea, but one closely related to the ideasin the other quatrains. Not only is the English sonnet the easiest in termsof its rhyme scheme, calling for only pairs ofrhyming words rather than groups of 4, but it isthe most flexible in terms of the placement of thevolta.

Shakespeare often places the "turn,"as in the Italian, at L9: "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.

Equally, Shakespeare can delay the volta tothe final couplet, as in this sonnet where eachquatrain develops a metaphor describing theaging of the speaker, while the couplet thenstates the consequence--"You better love menow because soon I won't be here": "Sonnet LXXIII" That time of year thou mayst in me behold, When yellow leaves, or none, or few do hang Upon those boughs which shake against the cold, Bare ruined choirs, where late the sweet birds sang. In me thou seest the twilight of such day, As after sunset fadeth in the west, Which by and by black night doth take away, Death's second self that seals up all in rest. In me thou seest the glowing of such fire, That on the ashes of his youth doth lie, As the deathbed, whereon it must expire, Consumed by that which it was nourished by. This thou perceivest, which makes thy love more strong, To love that well, which thou must leave ere long. IV. The Indefinables There are, of course, some sonnets that don't fit any clear recognizablepattern but still certainly function as sonnets.

Shelley's "Ozymandias"belongs to this category. It's rhyming pattern of a b a b a c d c e d e f e fis unique; clearly, however, there is a volta in L9 exactly as in anItalian sonnet: "Ozymandias" I met a traveller from an antique land Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone Stand in the desert . . . Near them, on the sand, Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown, And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command Tell that its sculptor well those passions read Which yet survive, (stamped on these lifeless things,) The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed: And on the pedestal these words appear: "My name is Ozymandias, king of kings: Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!" Nothing beside remains. Round the decay Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare The lone and level sands stretch far away.

Frederick Goddard Tuckerman wrote sonnets with free abandonand with virtually no regard for any kind of pattern at all, his rhymesafter the first few lines falling seemingly at random, as in this sonnetfrom his "Sonnets, First Series," which rhymes a b b a b c a b a d e c e d,with a volta at L10: "Sonnet XXVIII" Not the round natural world, not the deep mind, The reconcilement holds: the blue abyss Collects it not; our arrows sink amiss And but in Him may we our import find. The agony to know, the grief, the bliss Of toil, is vain and vain: clots of the sod Gathered in heat and haste and flung behind To blind ourselves and others, what but this Still grasping dust and sowing toward the wind? No more thy meaning seek, thine anguish plead, But leave straining thought and stammering word, Across the barren azure pass to God: Shooting the void in silence like a bird, A bird that shuts his wings for better speed.

One wonders if the "sod"/"God" rhyme, being six lines apart,actually works, if the reader's ear can pick it up across thatdistance. Still, the poem has the dialectical structure thata sonnet is supposed to have, so there is justification for infact considering it one. V. Links to Various Sonnet Sequences In addition to the sonnets and sequences available at Sonnet Central, there are several included in the Poets' Corner archive, listed below. Edmund Spenser, Amoretti: ~spanou...nser1.html Sir Philip Sidney, Astrophil and Stella: ~spanou...ney01.html The Sonnet: Poetic Form | Academy of American Poets Academy of American Poets The Academy of American Poets is the largest membership-based nonprofit organization fostering an appreciation for contemporary poetry and supporting American poets. For over three generations, the Academy has connected millions of people to great poetry through programs such as National Poetry Month, the largest literary celebration in the world; Poets.org, the Academy’s popular website; American Poets, a biannual literary journal; and an annual series of poetry readings and special events. Since its founding, the Academy has awarded more money to poets than any other organization.

browse poems & poets Acrostic: Poetic Form From the Italian sonetto, which means "a little sound or song," the sonnet is a popular classical form that has compelled poets for centuries. Traditionally, the sonnet is a fourteen-line poem written in iambic pentameter, which employ one of several rhyme schemes and adhere to a tightly structured thematic organization. Two sonnet forms provide the models from which all other sonnets are formed: the Petrarchan and the Shakespearean. Petrarchan Sonnet The first and most common sonnet is the Petrarchan, or Italian. Named after one of its greatest practitioners, the Italian poet Petrarch , the Petrarchan sonnet is divided into two stanzas, the octave (the first eight lines) followed by the answering sestet (the final six lines). The tightly woven rhyme scheme, abba, abba, cdecde or cdcdcd, is suited for the rhyme-rich Italian language, though there are many fine examples in English. Since the Petrarchan presents an argument, observation, question, or some other answerable charge in the octave, a turn, or volta, occurs between the eighth and ninth lines.

This turn marks a shift in the direction of the foregoing argument or narrative, turning the sestet into the vehicle for the counterargument, clarification, or whatever answer the octave demands. Sir Thomas Wyatt introduced the Petrarchan sonnet to England in the early sixteenth century. His famed translations of Petrarch’s sonnets, as well as his own sonnets, drew fast attention to the form. Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, a contemporary of Wyatt’s, whose own translations of Petrarch are considered more faithful to the original though less fine to the ear, modified the Petrarchan, thus establishing the structure that became known as the Shakespearean sonnet. This structure has been noted to lend itself much better to the comparatively rhyme-poor English language. Shakespearean Sonnet The second major type of sonnet, the Shakespearean, or English sonnet, follows a different set of rules. Here, three quatrains and a couplet follow this rhyme scheme: abab, cdcd, efef, gg. The couplet plays a pivotal role, usually arriving in the form of a conclusion, amplification, or even refutation of the previous three stanzas, often creating an epiphanic quality to the end.

In Sonnet 130 of William Shakespeare ’s epic sonnet cycle, the first twelve lines compare the speaker’s mistress unfavorably with nature’s beauties. But the concluding couplet swerves in a surprising direction: 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. Sonnet Variations Though Shakespeare’s sonnets were perhaps the finest examples of the English sonnet, John Milton ’s Italian-patterned sonnets (later known as "Miltonic" sonnets) added several important refinements to the form.

Milton freed the sonnet from its typical incarnation in a sequence of sonnets, writing the occasional sonnet that often expressed interior, self-directed concerns. He also took liberties with the turn, allowing the octave to run into the sestet as needed. Both of these qualities can be seen in "When I Consider How My Light is Spent." The Spenserian sonnet, invented by sixteenth century English poet Edmund Spenser, cribs its structure from the Shakespearean—three quatrains and a couplet—but employs a series of "couplet links" between quatrains, as revealed in the rhyme scheme: abab, bcbc, cdcd, ee. The Spenserian sonnet, through the interweaving of the quatrains, implicitly reorganized the Shakespearean sonnet into couplets, reminiscent of the Petrarchan. One reason was to reduce the often excessive final couplet of the Shakespearean sonnet, putting less pressure on it to resolve the foregoing argument, observation, or question. Sonnet Sequences There are several types of sonnet groupings, including the sonnet sequence, which is a series of linked sonnets dealing with a unified subject.

Examples include Elizabeth Barrett Browning ’s Sonnets from the Portuguese and Lady Mary Roth’s The Countess of Montgomery’s Urania, published in 1621, the first sonnet sequence by an English woman. Within the sonnet sequence, several formal constraints have been employed by various poets, including the corona (crown) and sonnet redoublé. In the corona, the last line of the initial sonnet acts as the first line of the next, and the ultimate sonnet’s final line repeats the first line of the initial sonnet. La Corona by John Donne is comprised of seven sonnets structured this way. The sonnet redoublé is formed of 15 sonnets, the first 14 forming a perfect corona, followed by the final sonnet, which is comprised of the 14 linking lines in order. Modern Sonnets The sonnet has continued to engage the modern poet, many of whom also took up the sonnet sequence, notably Rainer Maria Rilke , Robert Lowell , and John Berryman .

Stretched and teased formally and thematically, today’s sonnet can often only be identified by the ghost imprint that haunts it, recognizable by the presence of 14 lines or even by name only. Recent practitioners of this so-called “American” sonnet include Gerald Stern , Wanda Coleman , Ted Berrigan , and Karen Volkman . Hundreds of modern sonnets, as well as those representing the long history of the form, are collected in the anthology The Penguin Book of the Sonnet: 500 Years of a Classic Tradition in English (Penguin Books, 2001), edited by Phillis Levin . 55 Types of Poetry Forms A poem written about one self's life, personality traits, and ambitions. Example: Jean Ingelow's "One Morning, Oh! So Early" . Burlesque Poetry that treats a serious subject as humor. Example: E. E. Cummings "O Distinct" . Canzone Medieval Italian lyric style poetry with five or six stanzas and a shorter ending stanza. Carpe diem Latin expression that means 'seize the day.' Carpe diem poems have a theme of living for today. Cinquain Poetry with five lines.

Line 1 has one word (the title). Line 2 has two words that describe the title. Line 3 has three words that tell the action. Line 4 has four words that express the feeling, and line 5 has one word which recalls the title. Read more about cinquain poetry. Classicism Poetry which holds the principles and ideals of beauty that are characteristic of Greek and Roman art, architecture, and literature. Concrete Also known as "size poetry". Concrete poetry uses typographical arrangements to display an element of the poem. This can either be through re-arrangement of letters of a word or by arranging the words as a shape. Read more about concrete poetry . Couplet This type of poem is two lines which may be rhymed or unrhymed. Example: Walt Whitman's "To You" . Dramatic monologue A type of poem which is spoken to a listener. The speaker addresses a specific topic while the listener unwittingly reveals details about him/herself. Elegy A sad and thoughtful poem about the death of an individual. Example: Gary R. Hess's "1983" . Epic An extensive, serious poem that tells the story about a heroic figure.

Epigram A very short, ironic and witty poem usually written as a brief couplet or quatrain. The term is derived from the Greek epigramma meaning inscription. Epitaph A commemorative inscription on a tomb or mortuary monument written to praise the deceased. Example: Ben Jonson's "On My First Sonne" . Epithalamium (Epithalamion) A poem written in honor of the bride and groom. Free verse (vers libre) Poetry written in either rhyme or unrhymed lines that have no set fixed metrical pattern. Read more: What is Free Verse Poetry? Found Poetry created by taking words, phrases, and passages from other sources and re-framing them by adding spaces, lines, or by altering the text with additions or subtractions. Ghazal A short lyrical poem that arose in Urdu. It is between 5 and 15 couplets long. Each couplet contains its own poetic thought but is linked in rhyme that is established in the first couplet and continued in the second line of each pair. The lines of each couplet are equal in length. Themes are usually connected to love and romance. The closing signature often includes the poet's name or allusion to it.

Haiku A Japanese poem composed of three unrhymed lines of five, seven, and five morae, usually containing a season word. Read more about haiku poetry . Horatian ode Short lyric poem written in two or four-line stanzas, each with its the same metrical pattern, often addressed to a friend and deal with friendship, love and the practice of poetry. It is named after its creator, Horace. Iambic pentameter One short syllable followed by one long one five sets in a row. Example: la-LAH la-LAH la-LAH la-LAH la-LAH. Used extensively in sonnets. Idyll (Idyl) Poetry that either depicts a peaceful, idealized country scene or a long poem telling a story about heroes of a bye gone age. Irregular (Pseudo-Pindaric or Cowleyan) ode Neither the three part form of the pindaric ode nor the two or four-line stanza of the Horatian ode. It is characterized by irregularity of verse and structure and lack of correspondence between the parts.

Italian sonnet A sonnet consisting of an octave with the rhyme pattern abbaabba followed by six lines with a rhyme pattern of cdecde or cdcdcd. Read more about Italian sonnets . Lay A long narrative poem, especially one that was sung by medieval minstrels. Limerick A short sometimes vulgar, humorous poem consisting of five anapestic lines. Lines 1, 2, and 5 have seven to ten syllables, rhyme and have the same verbal rhythm. The 3rd and 4th lines have five to seven syllables, rhyme and have the same rhythm. List A poem that is made up of a list of items or events. It can be any length and rhymed or unrhymed. Lyric A poem that expresses the thoughts and feelings of the poet. Many songs are written using this type of writing. Read more about lyric poetry . Memoriam stanza A quatrain in iambic tetrameter with a rhyme scheme of abba -- named after the pattern used by Lord Tennyson . Name Poetry that tells about the word. It uses the letters of the word for the first letter of each line. Narrative A poem that tells a story.

Read more about narrative poetry. Ode A lengthy lyric poem typically of a serious or meditative nature and having an elevated style and formal stanza structure. Example: Sappho's "Ode to a Loved One" . Pastoral A poem that depicts rural life in a peaceful, romanticized way. Petrarchan A 14-line sonnet consisting of an octave rhyming abbaabba followed by a sestet of cddcee or cdecde Pindaric ode A ceremonious poem consisting of a strophe (two or more lines repeated as a unit) followed by a an antistrophe with the same metrical pattern and concluding with a summary line (an epode) in a different meter. Named after Pindar, a Greek professional lyrist of the 5th century B.C. Quatrain A stanza or poem consisting of four lines. Lines 2 and 4 must rhyme while having a similar number of syllables. Rhyme A rhyming poem has the repetition of the same or similar sounds of two or more words, often at the end of the line. Read more about rhyme usage .

Rhyme royal A type of poetry consisting of stanzas having seven lines in iambic pentameter. Romanticism A poem about nature and love while having emphasis on the personal experience. Rondeau A lyrical poem of French origin having 10 or 13 lines with two rhymes and with the opening phrase repeated twice as the refrain. Senryu A short Japanese style poem, similar to haiku in structure that treats human beings rather than nature: Often in a humorous or satiric way. Sestina A poem consisting of six six-line stanzas and a three-line envoy. The end words of the first stanza are repeated in varied order as end words in the other stanzas and also recur in the envoy. Shakespearean A 14-line sonnet consisting of three quatrains of abab cdcd efef followed by a couplet, gg. Shakespearean sonnets generally use iambic pentameter. Example: Shakespeare's "Sonnet 2" . Shape Poetry written in the shape or form of an object. This is a type of concrete poetry. Sonnet A lyric poem that consists of 14 lines which usually have one or more conventional rhyme schemes.

Read more about sonnets . Sound Intended primarily for performance, sound poetry is sometimes referred to as "verse without words". This form is seen as the bridging between literary and musical composition in which the phonetics of human speech are used to create a poem. Tanka A Japanese poem of five lines, the first and third composed of five syllables and the other seven. Terza Rima A type of poetry consisting of 10 or 11 syllable lines arranged in three-line tercets. Verse What is the name of the poetic form which Shakespeare uses for the prologue? How many line are there? Mark the rhyming pattern. | Romeo and Juliet Questions | Q & A | GradeSaver What is the name of the poetic f... Romeo and Juliet What is the name of the poetic form which Shakespeare uses for the prologue? How many line are there? Mark the rhyming pattern.

HELP Asked by Bob G #453351 on 7/27/2015 12:34 AM Last updated by jill d #170087 on 7/27/2015 12:40 AM Answered by jill d #170087 on 7/27/2015 12:40 AM The prologue of Romeo and Juliet is a sonnet, also known as an Elizabethan or Shakespearean sonnet. There are 14 lines, iambic pentameter, three quatrains, and a rhyming couplet, rhyme scheme: abab, cdcd, efef, gg. Source(s) Log In To Your GradeSaver Account Email 11.02.02: Lyric Poetry: The Sonnet - Pull together information in challenging texts to make generalizations/conclusions about people or situations. - Use other sources to provide examples or counterexamples to confirm or disprove generalizations Background Information Poetry can be divided into three main categories: epic, dramatic, and lyric.

Epic poems in the British tradition reach as far back Anglo-Saxon times with the discovery of The Exeter Book's Beowulf. Dramatic poems are the monologues and dialogues that are written in an author's created voice. Some examples of these would be Browning's "My Last Duchess" or Tennyson's "The Charge of the Light Brigade". Lyric poetry, originally performed by the ancient Greeks with a lyre or harp, expresses personal feelings. Lyric has since evolved into other forms including (but not limited to): ballads, ode, rondeau, villanelle, sonnets. For purposes of this unit we will be studying the sonnet. The Sonnet The form of the sonnet emerged during the Italian Middle Ages. Sonnets were popularized by Dante Alighieri (1265-1321) and Francesco Petrarch (1304-1374) during this time period and were later refined in France and Spain during the 16 th century. Consisting of 14 lines of iambic pentameter, the sonnet is the most widely-known subgenre of lyric poetry in the Western world.

Borrowing its name from the Italian word sonnetto, meaning little song, sonnets were most widely popular during the 16 th century. Typically, sonnets are a fixed form of lyric poetry that can be written in several different styles. The primary forms that appear on the AP English Literature and Composition exam are Petrarchan and Shakespearean sonnets. Petrarchan sonnets, named after the 14 th century poet Petrarch, are also known as Italian sonnets. The Italian sonnet consists of two main sections. The first section is an octave, eight lines, that follows the rhyme scheme abbaabba. The second stanza is a sestet, six lines, which have variable rhyme schemes. The most common are: cdecde, cdccdc, or cdcdcd. English, or Shakespearean sonnets, fundamentally follow a similar format. Instead of containing an octave/sestet split, English sonnets are composed of three quatrains and conclude with a couplet of two rhyming lines. The rhyme scheme for an English sonnet is abab, cdcd, efef, gg.

I have provided a comparison chart below of the Italian and English sonnets: Shakespearean Sonnets Since the bulk of the sonnets I will be covering in class were written by Shakespeare, my students should know something about the circumstances of their composition. I do not want to focus too much on his life, but more on the traditional Shakespearean sonnet form and how and why Shakespeare, at times, diverges from those conventions. Although it is unsure when Shakespeare wrote his sonnets, they were first published in 1609 by Thomas Thorpe, as SHAKE-SPEARES SONNETS: Never before imprinted. The collection contains 154 sonnets written by William Shakespeare. Elizabethan poets were known for writing sonnet sequences, or cycles. Shakespeare's sonnets 1-17 are commonly referred to the Get Married, Young Man sequence. These sonnets are written to a young male friend or lover and in many sonnets urge him to marry and have children. Sonnets 18-126 are bit milder and it could be argued who the actual sequence is written to because there are shifts in addressee.

Sonnets 127-52 are commonly referred to The Dark Ladie sonnets. These sonnets stray from spiritual or familial love, found in the Get Married, Young Man sequence, and are highly sexualized in content. Students may ask why Shakespeare chose to differ from the Italian form. Joseph Rosenblum, in The Greenwood Companion Shakespeare Vol. 4: Romances and Poetry, claims that there are two obvious reasons Shakespeare chose this form of the sonnet. First, there is the advantage of the three sections. Since the English sonnet contains three quatrains it allows the author to develop an idea through three different stages that are parallel. This parallelism unifies this larger argument, which is then capped by the couplet. The second claim is that this structure makes use of the greater variety of rhymes to be found in English. 5 English words don't typically end with vowels. Italian words, on the other hand, most commonly end with feminine vowel endings that are quite limited in variety. This allows for an extended repetitive rhyme scheme. The language of English sonnets can accommodate more rhyme changes, and this in turn leads to more breaks in thematic development within the sonnet.

Free Verse Straying from the conventions of traditional poetic forms, free verse doesn't lend itself to typical patterns. Although it can lack meter and rhyme, that doesn't necessarily mean that it lacks structure — it just lacks formalized structure. This unit relies on students being able to recognize metrical and rhyming patterns, like those in the sonnet, and being able to see the absence of such patterns in poems that seem to lack structure. It is important to note that free verse isn't just a rebellion to fixed forms of poetry, but more of an extension of what poetry can be. Despite this lack of formalized structure, free verse employs the use of varying lengths, strong repetitions of phrases, inventive use of typeset and space, etc. Strategies Explication Poetry is like a puzzle. We need to look very specifically at the details in the text to create some kind of meaning as a whole. This also means that we must take every detail of the text into account.

I think that sophisticated explication foundationally begins with some of the main tenets I want students to keep in mind while reading: 1.It is okay to revisit texts 2.You shouldn't get too stuck on vocabulary 3.Every element in a poem has a purpose 4.You don't need to have all of the right answers More specifically I am asking students to read the text, think about the text, locate similarities and/or differences over the course of a text and then draw conclusions from those steps. It is important to have students annotate their text. I suggest having a method that works for you as well as for your students. For instance, the kinds of annotations that students make on texts are same kinds that I make when I grade their papers. Having this common language also helps with peer editing. When students and I annotate in the same way we reinforce our reading tenets and apply them to our own writing. Using the teacher's practice confers critical value on their opinions. Guiding a student through this kind of annotated explication can be quite difficult because there are so many different things to focus on in a text — no matter how small.

In my class, when we analyze poetry we will be doing so by looking through a series of different lenses: 1. Rhetorical analysis 5. Historical context Rhetorical Analysis This can be done in a variety of ways depending on the skill level of the student. For purposes of this class I usually have students only focus on the occasion, audience, and purpose of a text and how they utilize the rhetorical appeals of logos, ethos, and pathos. In the case of the sonnet, this process proves to be a bit easier than for other poetic forms, because the sonnet often poses a problem and then proposes a solution. In looking at the occasion of a poem, one must ask why the author has written it. - What is the nagging problem? - What about this moment provides a need for them to persuade? - Is there anything historical about this moment or significant about moment that makes them feel the need to record it? When assessing the audience one must question who they are writing to and for. - Is there anything in the text that points you to a particular person or character? - What is their relationship to the author? - What kind of secondary audience is implied? The author's contemporaries? Posterity? Ourselves?

In the search for purpose, what is it that the author wants to do or to understand? - How can we summarize the text? - What is it they want the reader to believe or act upon? - Do they successfully fulfill their purpose? In addressing these questions it is important to evaluate the rhetorical appeals in doing so. - How does this appeal to your reason (logos)? - How does this appeal to your credibility (ethos)? - How does this appeal to your emotions (pathos)? Sound Devices Sound plays an intricate part in poetry. Poetry is supposed to be read aloud. Sound qualities also give meaning and understanding to a text. Items students should be able to identify in a poem are: - Alliteration — the repetition of similar sounds at the beginning of words. For example, in Sir Walter Raleigh's "To His Son": "And they be these: the wood, the weed, the wag." - Assonance — the repetition of particular vowel sounds to create an internal rhyme. For example, in Shakespeare's "Sonnet 55": "But you shall shine more bright in these contents." - Consonance — the repetition of a similar consonant sound two or more times.

For example, in Shakespeare's "Sonnet 29": "Like to the lark at break of day arising". - Cacophony — the use of harsh sounds to convey additional meaning. For example, in Shakespeare's "Sonnet 116": "Within his bending sickle's compass come." - Euphony — the opposite of cacophony; the use of pleasant sounds to convey additional meaning. For example, in Shakespeare's "Sonnet 116": "If this be error and upon me proved,/ I never writ, nor no man ever loved." - Internal Rhyme — rhyming that occurs within a line. For example, in Richard Wilbur's "Praise in Summer": "Obscurely yet most surely called to praise,". - Rhyme— the repetition of similar sounds. For example, in Milton's "How Soon Hath Time" the first stanza repeats the rhyming sounds th and er.

"How soon hath Time, the subtle thief of youth,/ Stoln on his wing my three and twentieth year!/ My hasting days fly on with full career,/ But my late spring no bud nor blossom shew'th." - There are many other sound qualities in poetry, but for the purpose of this unit these are the ones that help in identifying areas of a poem that need special attention. Structural Foundation Since we are using the format of the sonnet as our basis, students should be able to perform scansion, note the rhyme scheme, and then try to gather information from that point forward. This is where they should start to answer key questions: - How does the form inform the content? - How does the form breech any operative conventions? Why does this occur? - Is the formal element most prominently found in rhyme scheme, meter, or line? Why does it occur this or that element? Thematic Understanding Symbolism through metaphors, allegories, connotations through nouns, multiple symbols that are pointing in one direction: all point helpfully and concretely toward the development of a theme. For starters, students can record first impressions of a poem. They might start with] the title, looking for double meanings or extra connotations.

Many times during these first few glances it is necessary to look up any unfamiliar vocabulary. Using The Oxford English Dictionary is also useful in identifying some of those double meanings and extra connotations. 1. What kind of patterns can you identify in imagery, style, diction, punctuation, spacing, etc.? 2. What can you apply from these discoveries to the meaning of a line, stanza, or of the poem as a whole? Historical Context In class we break historical context into three aspects: historical time, author's history, the reader's history. We first consider the historical context in which this poem takes place. For example, it is important when discussing a poem like Emma Lazarus' "The New Colossus" to make reference to the Colossus of Rhodes, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. Seeing a reference of Colossus creates context and imagery that helps us toward Lazarus' meaning. The second kind of context we need to take into account is the author's history. This can get a bit sticky at times because students can easily be distracted from the text itself and fall back too readily on an author's history.

We need to remember that we are using this context to better inform us, not to give us any answers beyond what we actually find in] the poem. It is crucial to understand Milton's political views and his relationship to Oliver Cromwell when reading "Sonnet 16" or "When the Assault Was Intended to the City". Knowing Robert Hayden's personal biography, on the other hand, can lead a discussion on "Those Winter Sundays" that strays from the form and function of the sonnet. It is key to remember that an author's personal history can enrich a text, but we want to make sure it doesn't smother it. Lastly, one can allow students to bring in their own personal history to bear on the poem. Once again, this is tricky to do, because we want to make sure that the student focuses on the task at hand and does not get too caught up in totally private associations. I strongly suggest that having a student reference the text when giving their own personal slant will help them stay focused on the text. Scansion In introducing the sonnet I want to provide some background information in addition to an in-depth discussion of the two main forms.

At first we will look at examples of both kinds of sonnets and see what kind of similarities and differences we can find between them. Then we will start looking more deeply at the significance of the different forms. We will use the strategy of scansion to help guide us through this process. Scansion is the analysis of the metrical pattern of lines and sections/stanzas. This is particularly important for students because it adds another graphical dimension to the text that can help direct them towards particular moments in a word, line, or stanza where meter reinforces meaning. Sometimes a turn of thought doesn't occur at the end of a stanza, but appears through the stresses and beats in a particular line. There are various ways to do scansion. This unit will provide students with one of the most basic forms that will serve their purpose. For this unit we will be: 1. Reading aloud 3. Noting the stressed and unstressed beats 4. Identifying the feet 5. Identifying the meter To begin this process I think it is very important for the instructor to read the poem aloud. This allows students to get the feel of the poem and recognize out any tonal qualities.

By hearing the poem read aloud students will notice any shifts in the distribution of stress along the syllables. On many occasion reading aloud with this much care requires a lot of practice on the part of the instructor. There are a variety of websites that offer mp3s of poems. I suggest using these in class and practicing on your own in preparation for a lesson in scansion. Secondly, you are going to want to break down the words into separate units of sound. This is most commonly performed by breaking lines down by syllable. Most commonly, students will mark these breaks using this symbol | . For example, the first line of Shakespeare's "Sonnet 130", "My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun;" becomes: Or, the first line of Keats' "On First Looking into Chapman's Homer", "Much have I travell'd in the realms of gold," becomes: Now that we have the breakdown of the syllables there must be notation of the meter; or, stressed and unstressed beats. You can use this chart to identify the most common feet in poetry. There are other feet not listed here, but these are the most common 6: Often you will also hear people refer to things like rising meter.

That is when the accent is on the last beat ( - / ), as in an iamb or an anapest. Another term that is used is falling meter. That is when the accent is on the first beat ( / - ), as in a trochee or a dactyl. I have seen this notation done in a variety of different ways. For younger students, I have seen teachers use capitalization in place of stress: To put the feet into meter we should count the feet in the line. Here is a basic chart you can use in your classroom: In studying the sonnet, we will rely primarily on iambic pentameter. Notice that in both the Shakespeare's "Sonnet 130" and Keats' "On First Looking into Chapman's Homer" the five basically iambic feet are repeated from line to line. That is because these two pieces are written in iambic pentameter. So why do we do this? First, we do it to learn to recognize meter. Secondly, we do it to make the writer's technique visible. It can help direct us to points in a poem where an author deviates from convention, for example replacing the expected iamb with a trochee.

Why do they deviate? Why do they choose to do it there? What about the language helps us decide? Do we see any larger patterns by line or stanza, and how does such repetition or change affect the poem as a whole? Socratic Seminar There are many ideas behind the use of Socratic seminar in the classroom. Personally, I find that dialogue between students with the teacher functions as a facilitator. The difficulty in this is to allow students to guide the discussion. Some steps that help students with this strategy are to have clearly defined norms for running a Socratic seminar: 1. Nameplate — helps students guide the discussion by referencing others' ideas 2. Professional etiquette — guides how we listen and respond to others 3. No ad hominem expressions — sticking to the text for argument's sake and not taking away from your argument by acting ignorant or petulant 4. Refer back to the texts — if you are going to make a point in class you must refer to either the text or a comment that someone has already made The focus of these Socratic seminars will be another way to guide close reading with a more critical, analytical discussion. Additionally, the role of facilitator (teacher) is to be prepared to pull students through the discussion.

This needs to be done through a carefully prepared set of questions. I can foresee Socratic seminar developing from one of the following questions for this unit: 1. What are the conventions of the English/Italian sonnet? 2. When does the sonnet break from form? 3. Why does it break from the form? Activities Explication Explication is a very difficult skill because there are so many different lenses in which to look at poems. I strongly suggest choosing poems that lend themselves to many different lenses that students have practiced. The purpose of this activity is to have students practice applying several specific lenses to a poem and have them explain their explication to the class. Students should be placed in groups of 3-4 students and be given a teacher selected poem. Students will read through the poem twice and try to identify any distinguishing characteristics. Students will then visit five stations with their poems: rhetorical analysis, sound devices, structural foundation, thematic understanding, historical context. They should take notes on their own for purposes of this assignment. If the teacher wants to guide the assignment more carefully the teacher can then provide very specific questions at each station that the students visit.

Students should spend about five minutes on each station, have five minutes to formulate their findings to the class, and have five minutes to report their findings. Times can be adjusted depending on your class length and level of students. Scansion Scansion is a difficult skill that also takes time and practice. The purpose of this assignment is to have students perform basic level scansion to help them identify the differences between English and Italian sonnets. Students should be prompted with a lecture about sonnets and primed with the vocabulary internal rhyme, couplet, quatrain, sestet, octave, sonnet, Italian sonnet, English sonnet, volta, and enjambment. This assignment can also extend to other kinds of sonnets. Students can either work alone or with a partner. Students will read the poem twice aloud to one another. They will go through the following steps: 1.Mark the rhyme scheme for each of the sonnets (remind students that sometimes rhymes aren't exact) 2.Based on the rhyme scheme identify the sections in the sonnets. Do you see quatrains, sestets, octaves, couples? Where are they located? 3.Now, identify what kind of sonnets they are.

What kinds of similarities and differences do you notice? Advanced classes can take this a step forward and do the following: 4.Mark the beats and meters for each line. What do you notice? Are there any shifts or changes in the meter? How does that shift signify any other changes within the line or poem? 5.Locate the volta? Is it what you expected, why? Is it out of place and, if so, what do you think was the author's purpose? Why? Socratic Seminar The purpose of this lesson is to help prime the argumentative process needed to be fleshed out in their final paper. Students should be primed by having access to the poems beforehand. I also suggest giving them an assignment that makes them think and respond to the text. This pre-exercise only needs to be 3-4 questions that are focused, scaffolded, and connected to the seminar. This is also a chance for you to provide any background information necessary for students, as well as, any clarification of vocabulary. Before students enter the classroom seats/desks should be in a circle and students should have their nameplates available. Students should enter the classroom, set-up their nameplate, and have their assignment visible.

The facilitator should be ready with a plentiful list of questions to help continued conversation through the allotted time. The Socratic seminar should begin with all students individually answering a yes or no question about a text. The question needs to be specific to the topic, but also fair and balanced in that students will select a fair amount of both "yes" and "no" answers. A fully planned lesson would include a variety of these questions as a way to facilitate strong conversation. It should also be emphasized that a successful seminar is often when students make reference to someone else's thought and/or returning to the text to support their own claims. Questions that you could consider for this lesson: -Shakespeare's "Sonnet 130": Read through lines 13 and 14 again. Are you convinced by the speaker's claim? -Jonson's "On My First Son": Read through this poem again. Is this poem a sonnet? -Bishop's, "Vists to St. Elizabeths": Read through this poem again. Does the nursery rhyme scheme fit the function of this poem? Annotated Bibliography Abrams, M. H. . Glossary of Literary Terms. New York: Rinehart, 1971.

This is a great basic text that covers terms and theories applicable to world literature. College Board. "English Literature". "College Readiness Standards". ACT, Inc. Deutche, Babette. Poetry Handbook: A Dictionary of Terms. New York: Harper, 1974. This text is good for basic poetry terms to cover in class. It also provides titles of examples that correspond. Ellemann, Richard. The Norton Anthology of Modern Poetry. NewYork: W. W. Norton, 1988. This is a wonderful text that includes modern poetry in the authors' chronological order. It begins with Whitman and continues to authors who were born in the mid 1950's. Ferguson, Margaret . The Norton Anthology of Poetry. New York: W. W. Norton, 2004. There are thousands of pages of poems in authors' chronological order from Anglo-Saxon to the present cannon in this edition. Additionally, it also includes short biographical entries as an appendix. "Robert Frost" Poets.org Rosenblum, Joseph. The Greenwood Companion to Shakespeare: Vol. 4 Romances and Poetry. Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 2005.

The nice thing about this text is that it does the following: paraphrases the sonnet, addresses the placement of the sonnet in relation to those around it, identifies devices and techniques, locates themes and meanings, and shows their relationship to other Shakespearean texts. Additionally, each entry includes its own annotated bibliography. Sandburg, Carl. The Atlantic Monthly. March, 1942. Schoenbaum, Samuel. William Shakespeare, a compact documentary life. New York: Oxford, 1977. This text combines an anthology of Shakespeare's works with original stage directions, omitted lines, and revisions. Strand, Mark. The Making of a Poem: A Norton Anthology of Poetic Forms. New York: W. W. Norton, 2001. Each chapter offers insight into a variety of poetic forms via history, contemporary application, and close reading. Wells, Stanley, and Michael Dobson. The Oxford Companion to Shakespeare. New York: Oxford, 2001. This is another very good anthology of Shakespeare's works. This anthology also includes a first line index of his sonnets. Student Resources What Is a Sonnet? - Overview and Characteristics What Is a Sonnet?

By Lee Jamieson Updated September 11, 2016. Shakespeare’s sonnets are written in a strict poetic form that was very popular during his lifetime . Broadly speaking, each sonnet engages images and sounds to present an argument to the reader. Sonnet Characteristics A sonnet is simply a poem written in a certain format. You can identify a sonnet if the poem has the following characteristics: 14 lines. All sonnets have 14 lines which can be broken down into four sections called quatrains. A strict rhyme scheme. The rhyme scheme of a Shakespearean sonnet is ABAB / CDCD / EFEF / GG (note the four distinct sections in the rhyme scheme). Written in iambic Pentameter . Sonnets are written in iambic pentameter , a poetic meter with 10 beats per line made up of alternating unstressed and stressed syllables. A sonnet can be broken down into four sections called quatrains. The first three quatrains contain four lines each and use an alternating rhyme scheme. The final quatrain consists of just two lines which both rhyme.

continue reading below our video How to Write a Sonnet Each quatrain should progress the poem as follows: First quatrain: This should establish the subject of the sonnet. Number of lines: 4. Rhyme Scheme: ABAB Second quatrain: This should develop the sonnet’s theme. Number of lines: 4. Rhyme Scheme: CDCD Third quatrain: This should round off the sonnet’s theme. Number of lines: 4. Rhyme Scheme: EFEF Fourth quatrain: This should act as a conclusion to the sonnet. Number of lines: 2. Rhyme Scheme: GG Sonnet | Glossary Terms | Poetry Foundation Poetry Foundation Enter your search terms above to search the glossary Sonnet Browse all terms A 14-line poem with a variable rhyme scheme originating in Italy and brought to England by Sir Thomas Wyatt and Henry Howard, earl of Surrey in the 16th century. Literally a “little song,” the sonnet traditionally reflects upon a single sentiment, with a clarification or “turn” of thought in its concluding lines. There are many different types of sonnets.

The Petrarchan sonnet, perfected by the Italian poet Petrarch, divides the 14 lines into two sections: an eight-line stanza (octave) rhyming ABBAABBA, and a six-line stanza (sestet) rhyming CDCDCD or CDEEDE. John Milton’s “When I Consider How my Light Is Spent” and Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s “How Do I Love Thee” employ this form. The Italian sonnet is an English variation on the traditional Petrarchan version. The octave’s rhyme scheme is preserved, but the sestet rhymes CDDCEE. See Thomas Wyatt’s “Whoso List to Hunt, I Know Where Is an Hind” and John Donne’s “If Poisonous Minerals, and If That Tree.” Wyatt and Surrey developed the English (or Shakespearean) sonnet, which condenses the 14 lines into one stanza of three quatrains and a concluding couplet, with a rhyme scheme of ABABCDCDEFEFGG (though poets have frequently varied this scheme; see Wilfred Owen’s “Anthem for Doomed Youth” ).

George Herbert’s “Love (II),” Claude McKay’s “America,” and Molly Peacock’s “Altruism” are English sonnets. These three types have given rise to many variations, including: -The caudate sonnet, which adds codas or tails to the 14-line poem. See Gerard Manley Hopkins’s “That Nature Is a Heraclitean Fire.” -The curtal sonnet, a shortened version devised by Gerard Manley Hopkins that maintains the proportions of the Italian form, substituting two six-stress tercets for two quatrains in the octave (rhyming ABC ABC), and four and a half lines for the sestet (rhyming DEBDE), also six-stress except for the final three-stress line.

See his poem “Pied Beauty.” -The sonnet redoublé, also known as a crown of sonnets, is composed of 15 sonnets that are linked by the repetition of the final line of one sonnet as the initial line of the next, and the final line of that sonnet as the initial line of the previous; the last sonnet consists of all the repeated lines of the previous 14 sonnets, in the same order in which they appeared. Marilyn Nelson’s A Wreath for Emmett Till is a contemporary example. -A sonnet sequence is a group of sonnets sharing the same subject matter and sometimes a dramatic situation and persona. See George Meredith’s Modern Love sequence, Sir Philip Sidney’s Astrophel and Stella, Rupert Brooke’s 1914 sequence, and Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s Sonnets from the Portuguese . -The Spenserian sonnet is a 14-line poem developed by Edmund Spenser in his Amoretti, that varies the English form by interlocking the three quatrains (ABAB BCBC CDCD EE). -The stretched sonnet is extended to 16 or more lines, such as those in George Meredith’s sequence Modern Love.

-A submerged sonnet is tucked into a longer poetic work; see lines 235-48 of T.S. Eliot’s “The Waste Land. ” About the Sonnet About the Sonnet Chris Baldick Sonnet : a lyric poem comprising 14 rhyming lines of equal length: iambic pentameters in English, alexandrines in French, hendecasyllables in Italian. The rhyme schemes of the sonnet follow two basic patterns. (1) The Italian sonnet (also called the Petrarchan sonnet after the most influential of the Italian sonneteers) comprises an 8-line 'octave' of two quatrains, rhymed abbaabba, followed by a 6-line 'sestet' usually rhymed cdecde or cdcdcd. The transition from octave to sestet usually coincides with a 'turn' (Italian, volta) in the argument or mood of the poem. In a variant form used by the English poet John Milton, however, the 'turn' is delayed to a later position around the tenth line.

Some later poets--notably William Wordsworth--have employed this feature of the 'Miltonic sonnet' while relaxing the rhyme scheme of the octave to abbaacca. The Italian pattern has remained the most widely used in English and other languages. (2) The English sonnet (also called the Shakespearean sonnet after its foremost practitioner) comprises three quatrains and a final couplet, rhyming ababcdcdefefgg. An important variant of this is the Spenserian sonnet (introduced by the Elizabethan poet Edmund Spenser), which links the three quatrains by rhyme, in the sequence ababbabccdcdee. In either form, the 'turn' comes with the final couplet, which may sometimes achieve the neatness of an epigram. Originating in Italy, the sonnet was established by Petrarch in the 14th century as a major form of love poetry, and came to be adopted in Spain, France and England in the 16th century, and in Germany in the 17th.

The standard subject-matter of early sonnets was the torments of sexual love (usually within a courtly love convention), but in the 17th century John Donne extended the sonnet's scope to religion, while Millton extended it to politics. Although largely neglected in the 18th century, the sonnet was revived in the 19th by Wordsworth, Keats, and Baudelaire, and is still widely used. Some poets have written connected series of sonnets, known as sonnet sequences or sonnet cycles: of these, the outstanding English examples are Sir Philip Sidney's Astrophel and Stella (1591), Spenser's Amoretti (1595), and Shakespeare's Sonnets (1609); later examples include Elizabeth Barrett Browning's Sonnets from the Portuguese (1850) and W. H. Auden's 'In Time of War' (1939). A group of sonnets formally linked by repeated lines is known as a crown of sonnets. Irregular variations on the sonnet form have included the 12-line sonnet sometimes used by Elizabethan poets, G. M.

Hopkin's curtal sonnets of 10-1/2 lines, and the 16-line sonnets of George Meredith's sequence Modern Love (1862). Lyric [li-rik]: In the modern sense, any fairly short poem expressing the personal mood, feeling, or meditation of a single speaker (who may sometimes be an invented character, not the poet). In ancient Greece, a lyric was a song for accompaniment on the lyre, and could be a choral lyric sung by a group, such as a dirge or hymn; the modern sense, current since the Renaissance, often suggests a songlike quality in the poems to which it refers. Lyric poetry is the most extensive category of verse, especially after the decline since the 19th century in the West--of the other principal kinds: narrative and dramatic verse. Lyrics may be composed in almost any metre and on almost every subject, although the most usual emotions presented are those of love and grief. Among the common lyric forms are the sonnet, ode, elegy, haiku, and the more personal kinds of hymn. Lyricism is the emotional or song-like quality, the lyrical property, of lyric poetry.

A writer of lyric poems may be called a lyric poet, a lyricist, or a lyrist. In another sense, the lyrics of a popular song or other musical composition are the words as opposed to the music; these may not always be lyrical in the poetic sense (e.g. in a narrative song like a ballad). Pentameter [pen-tamm-it-er]: A metrical verse line having five main stresses, traditionally described as a line of five 'feet.' In English poetry since Chaucer, the pentameter--almost always an iambic line normally of 10 syllables--has had a special status as the standard line in many important forms including blank verse, the heroic couplet, ottava rima, rhyme royal, and the sonnet. In its pure iambic form, the pentameter shows a regular alternation of stressed and unstressed syllables, as in this line by Percy Bysshe Shelley: If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?

There are, however, several permissible variations in the placing of stresses, which help to avoid the monotony of such regular alternation; and the pentameter may be lengthened from 10 syllables to 11 by a feminine ending. In classical Greek and Latin poetry, the second line of the elegiac distich, commonly but inaccurately referred to as a 'pentameter' is in fact composed of two half-lines of two and a half feet each, with dactyls or spondees in the first half and dactyls in the second. Rhyme scheme : The pattern in which the rhymed line-endings are arranged in a poem or stanza. This may be expressed as a sequence of recurrences in which each line ending on the same rhyme is given the same alphabetic symbol: thus the rhyme scheme of a limerick is given the notation aabba. Rhyme schemes may follow a fixed pattern, as in the sonnet and several other forms, or they may be arranged freely according to the poet's requirements.

The simplest rhyme schemes are those of rhyming couplets (aabbcc, etc.) and of the common quatrain forms (abab, abcb, abba), while those of ottava rima, rhyme royal, the Spenserian stanza, and the French fixed forms are far more intricate. From The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms. New York: Oxford UP, 1990. Copyright 1990 by Chris Baldick. Shakespearean Sonnet Basics: Iambic Pentameter and the English Sonnet Style Shakespearean Sonnet Basics: Iambic Pentameter and the English Sonnet Style Shakespeare's sonnets are written predominantly in a meter called iambic pentameter, a rhyme scheme in which each sonnet line consists of ten syllables. The syllables are divided into five pairs called iambs or iambic feet. An iamb is a metrical unit made up of one unstressed syllable followed by one stressed syllable. An example of an iamb would be good BYE. A line of iambic pentameter flows like this: baBOOM / baBOOM / baBOOM / baBOOM / baBOOM.

Here are some examples from the sonnets: When I / do COUNT / the CLOCK / that TELLS / the TIME ( Sonnet 12 ) When IN / dis GRACE / with FOR / tune AND / men�s EYES I ALL / a LONE / be WEEP / my OUT/ cast STATE ( Sonnet 29 ) Shall I / com PARE/ thee TO / a SUM / mer's DAY? Thou ART / more LOVE / ly AND / more TEM / per ATE ( Sonnet 18 ) Shakespeare's plays are also written primarily in iambic pentameter, but the lines are unrhymed and not grouped into stanzas. Unrhymed iambic pentameter is called blank verse . It should be noted that there are also many prose passages in Shakespeare�s plays and some lines of trochaic tetrameter , such as the Witches' speeches in Macbeth . Sonnet Structure There are fourteen lines in a Shakespearean sonnet. The first twelve lines are divided into three quatrains with four lines each. In the three quatrains the poet establishes a theme or problem and then resolves it in the final two lines, called the couplet.

The rhyme scheme of the quatrains is abab cdcd efef. The couplet has the rhyme scheme gg. This sonnet structure is commonly called the English sonnet or the Shakespearean sonnet, to distinguish it from the Italian Petrarchan sonnet form which has two parts: a rhyming octave (abbaabba) and a rhyming sestet (cdcdcd). The Petrarchan sonnet style was extremely popular with Elizabethan sonneteers, much to Shakespeare's disdain (he mocks the conventional and excessive Petrarchan style in Sonnet 130 ). Only three of Shakespeare's 154 sonnets do not conform to this structure: Sonnet 99 , which has 15 lines; Sonnet 126 , which has 12 lines; and Sonnet 145 , which is written in iambic tetrameter. _____ How to cite this article: Mabillard, Amanda. Shakespearean Sonnet Basics: Iambic Pentameter and the English Sonnet Style. Shakespeare Online. 30 Aug. 2000. < >.

______ SparkNotes: Shakespeare’s Sonnets: The Sonnet Form The Sonnet Form Context Themes, Motifs & Symbols A sonnet is a fourteen-line lyric poem, traditionally written in iambic pentameter—that is, in lines ten syllables long, with accents falling on every second syllable, as in: “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?” The sonnet form first became popular during the Italian Renaissance, when the poet Petrarch published a sequence of love sonnets addressed to an idealized woman named Laura. Taking firm hold among Italian poets, the sonnet spread throughout Europe to England, where, after its initial Renaissance, “Petrarchan” incarnation faded, the form enjoyed a number of revivals and periods of renewed interest. In Elizabethan England—the era during which Shakespeare’s sonnets were written—the sonnet was the form of choice for lyric poets, particularly lyric poets seeking to engage with traditional themes of love and romance.

(In addition to Shakespeare’s monumental sequence, the Astrophel and Stella sequence by Sir Philip Sydney stands as one of the most important sonnet sequences of this period.) Sonnets were also written during the height of classical English verse, by Dryden and Pope, among others, and written again during the heyday of English Romanticism, when Wordsworth, Shelley, and particularly John Keats created wonderful sonnets. Today, the sonnet remains the most influential and important verse form in the history of English poetry. Two kinds of sonnets have been most common in English poetry, and they take their names from the greatest poets to utilize them: the Petrarchan sonnet and the Shakespearean sonnet. The Petrarchan sonnet is divided into two main parts, called the octave and the sestet. The octave is eight lines long, and typically follows a rhyme scheme of ABBAABBA, or ABBACDDC. The sestet occupies the remaining six lines of the poem, and typically follows a rhyme scheme of CDCDCD, or CDECDE. The octave and the sestet are usually contrasted in some key way: for example, the octave may ask a question to which the sestet offers an answer.

In the following Petrarchan sonnet, John Keats’s “On First Looking into Chapman’s Homer,” the octave describes past events—the speaker’s previous, unsatisfying examinations of the “realms of gold,” Homer’s poems—while the sestet describes the present—the speaker’s sense of discovery upon finding Chapman’s translations: Much have I travell’d in the realms of gold, And many goodly states and kingdoms seen; Round many western islands have I been Which bards in fealty to Apollo hold. Oft of one wide expanse have I been told That deep-brow’d Homer ruled as his demesne; Yet did I never breathe its pure serene Till I heard Chapman speak out loud and bold: Then felt I like some watcher of the skies When a new planet swims into his ken; Or like stout Cortez when with eagle eyes He star’d at the Pacific—and all his men Look’d at each other with a wild surmise— Silent, upon a peak in Darien. The Shakespearean sonnet, the form of sonnet utilized throughout Shakespeare’s sequence, is divided into four parts.

The first three parts are each four lines long, and are known as quatrains, rhymed ABAB; the fourth part is called the couplet, and is rhymed CC. The Shakespearean sonnet is often used to develop a sequence of metaphors or ideas, one in each quatrain, while the couplet offers either a summary or a new take on the preceding images or ideas. In Shakespeare’s Sonnet 147, for instance, the speaker’s love is compared to a disease. In the first quatrain, the speaker characterizes the disease; in the second, he describes the relationship of his love-disease to its “physician,” his reason; in the third, he describes the consequences of his abandonment of reason; and in the couplet, he explains the source of his mad, diseased love—his lover’s betrayal of his faith: My love is as a fever, longing still For that which longer nurseth the disease, Feeding on that which doth preserve the ill, The uncertain sickly appetite to please. My reason, the physician to my love, Angry that his prescriptions are not kept, Hath left me, and I desp’rate now approve Desire is death, which physic did except.

Past cure am I, now reason is past care, And frantic mad with evermore unrest, My thoughts and my discourse as madmen’s are, At random from the truth vainly expressed; For I have sworn thee fair and thought thee bright, Who art as black as hell, as dark as night. In many ways, Shakespeare’s use of the sonnet form is richer and more complex than this relatively simple division into parts might imply. Not only is his sequence largely occupied with subverting the traditional themes of love sonnets—the traditional love poems in praise of beauty and worth, for instance, are written to a man, while the love poems to a woman are almost all as bitter and negative as Sonnet 147—he also combines formal patterns with daring and innovation. Many of his sonnets in the sequence, for instance, impose the thematic pattern of a Petrarchan sonnet onto the formal pattern of a Shakespearean sonnet, so that while there are still three quatrains and a couplet, the first two quatrains might ask a single question, which the third quatrain and the couplet will answer. As you read through Shakespeare’s sequence, think about the ways Shakespeare’s themes are affected by and tailored to the sonnet form.

Be especially alert to complexities such as the juxtaposition of Petrarchan and Shakespearean patterns. How might such a juxtaposition combination deepen and enrich Shakespeare’s use of a traditional form? More Help

Question: In the poetic form, the sonnet, how many lines are there?
Answer: 14