A sonnet is a very strict form with a lot of rules…

A sonnet is a lyric poem All sonnets have fourteen lines Sonnets are written in iambic pentameter Sonnets have a strict rhyme scheme Sonnets have a definite thought structure

The Two Types of Sonnets Shakespearean Also called

Elizabethan or English

Divided into 3 quatrains and 1 couplet

Rhyme Scheme=

ABAB CDCD EFEF GG

Petrarchan Also called Italian Divided into an

octave and a sestet Rhyme Scheme=

ABBA ABBA CDECDE

or

ABBA ABBA CD CD CD

An iamb is a metrical foot or unit consisting of two syllables:a unstressed syllable: Ufollowed by an stressed syllable: /

U /a gain

U / U / im mor tal ize

Iambic pentameter

One day /I wrote/ her name/ upon/ the strand,

But came the waves and wash ed it a way:

A gain I wrote it with a second hand,

But came the tide, and made my pains his prey

- Edmund Spenser, Amoretti, Sonnet 75

1 2 3 4 5

U / U / U / U / U /

U / U / U / U / U /

U / U / U / U / U /

U / U / U / U / U /

Rhyme scheme Like we said earlier… there are two types

of sonnets. Each has a different rhyme pattern:

Petrarchan (Italian) rhyme scheme: abba, abba, cd, cd, cd abba, abba, cde, cde

Shakespearean (English, or Elizabethan) rhyme scheme:

abab, cdcd, efef, gg

Let’s take a look at a Shakespearean Sonnet…. First we’ll examine the form… How many lines will it have? What type of stanzas are those lines

divided into? How many syllables in each line? And the rhyme scheme?

Sonnet 271. Weary with toil, I haste me to my bed2. The dear repose for limbs with travel tired;3. But then begins a journey in my head4. To work my mind, when body's work's expired:5. For then my thoughts--from far where I abide6. Intend a zealous pilgrimage to thee,7. And keep my drooping eyelids open wide,8. Looking on darkness which the blind do see:9. Save that my soul's imaginary sight10. Presents thy shadow to my sightless view,11. Which, like a jewel hung in ghastly night,12. Makes black night beauteous, and her old

face new.13. Lo! thus, by day my limbs, by night my mind,14. For thee, and for myself, no quiet find.

ABABCDCDEFEFGG

Let’s take a look at the rhyme scheme of this sonnet…

Thought structure

Every Shakespearean sonnet is made up of three quatrains and a couplet

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.

1. Weary with toil, I haste me to my bed,2. The dear repose for limbs with travel tired;3. But then begins a journey in my head4. To work my mind, when body's work's expired:

5. For then my thoughts--from far where I abide—6. Intend a zealous pilgrimage to thee,7. And keep my drooping eyelids open wide,8. Looking on darkness which the blind do see:

9. Save that my soul's imaginary sight10. Presents thy shadow to my sightless view,11. Which, like a jewel hung in ghastly night,12. Makes black night beauteous, and her old face new.

13. Lo! thus, by day my limbs, by night my mind,14. For thee, and for myself, no quiet find..

The first quatrain describes that the speaker needs to rest but cannot mentally rest.

The 3rd quatrain explains that his beloved will light the darkness of the night even in thought.

The 2nd quatrain describes the reason the speaker cannot rest (thinking of a loved one).

The couplet sums this up. The poem concludes that the speaker will not rest.

Scansion Homework:

Write two lines of iambic pentameter and mark the scansion

Then, write two lines of trochaic pentameter and mark the scansion