Shakespearean Sonnets

London’s theaters were closed from 1592-1594 because of a plague.

Shakespeare spent his time writing 154 Sonnets:

The Fair Youth 1-126 (Rumored to be to a handsome, young man)The Dark Lady 127- 152(153,154) (Rumored to be one of Shakespeare’s lovers)The Rival Poet 78-86 (Rumored to be written to his competition)

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What is a sonnet?

Sonnet mean is derived from the Italian Word Sonetto which means “little sound;song”

It has to be about love

A sonnet is a fourteen-line poem in iambic pentameter.

Iambic what?

Oh dear, this isgoing to be aweird lesson!

Iambic Pentameter Iambic Pentameter is the rhythm and metre in which poets and playwrights wrote in Elizabethan England. It is a metre that Shakespeare uses.

Heartbeat.

Quite simply, it sounds like this: dee DUM, dee DUM, dee DUM, dee DUM, dee DUM. It consists of a line of five iambic feet, ten syllables with five unstressed and five stressed syllables. It is the first and last sound we ever hear, it is the rhythm of the human heart beat.

Pentameter?Well an ‘iamb’ is ‘dee Dum’ – it is the heart beat.

Penta is from the Greek for five.

Meter is really the pattern

So, there are five iambs per line!

(Iambic penta meter )

Pentameter cont’d

It is percussive and attractive to the ear and has an effect on the listener's central nervous system. An Example of Pentameter from Shakespeare: but SOFT what LIGHT through YONder WINdow BREAKS

SyllablesA Syllables are phonological "building blocks" of words. They can influence the rhythm of a language, its poetic meter, its stress patterns, etc. Well, there are three syllables (separate sounds) in the word syllable!

WRITE THIS DOWN:“But soft, what light through yonder window breaks.”How many syllables are there in that

quotation? Draw a line to separate each syllable.

It should look like this……

• “But / soft, / what / light /through / yon / der / win / dow / breaks /There are TEN syllables.

NOW, underline the stressed syllables. Remember it’s the heartbeat. Dee DUM dee DUM dee DUM

It should look like this……

• “But / soft, / what / light /through / yon / der / win / dow / breaks /

There you have it, this rhythm is iambic pentameter!

Well done!

Back to sonnets……

Well, it is a poetic form.

But it has a certain structure as well as a rhyming pattern.

STRUCTURE & SCHEME

Structure: three quatrains followed by a couplet

Rhyme Scheme: abab cdcd efef gg.

Shakespearean Sonnet Structure

Quatrains are four line stanzasPresents three growing views of perspectives

on a problem or scenario. (3)

Couplet is a couple (two) lines with the same rhyme scheme The couplet in a sonnet changes the

direction of the poem, transforming the view to something else. (at end)

Now, separate each quatrain and couplet with a line. Label each section.

Sonnet 1161 Let me not to the marriage of true minds2 Admit impediments. Love is not love3 Which alters when it alteration finds4 Or bends with the remover to remove:5 O, no! it is an ever-fixed mark,6 That looks on tempests and is never shaken;7 It is the star to every wandering bark,8 Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.9 Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks10 Within his bending sickle's compass come;11 Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,12 But bears it out even to the edge of doom.13 If this be error and upon me proved,14 I never writ, nor no man ever loved.

Sonnet 116

1 Let me not to the marriage of true minds2 Admit impediments. Love is not love3 Which alters when it alteration finds4 Or bends with the remover to remove:5 O, no! it is an ever-fixed mark,6 That looks on tempests and is never shaken;7 It is the star to every wandering bark,8 Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.9 Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks10 Within his bending sickle's compass come;11 Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,12 But bears it out even to the edge of doom.13 If this be error and upon me proved,14 I never writ, nor no man ever loved.

Couplet 1

Quatrain 2

Quatrain

3

Quatrain 1

Sonnet 116

Rhyme scheme is the pattern of rhyme between lines of a poem or song. It is usually referred to by using letters to indicate which lines rhyme. In other words, it is the pattern of end rhymes or lines (END WORD)

FAT CAT

There once was a big brown cat,

That liked to eat a lot of mice.      

He got all round and fat,                

Because they tasted so nice.   

The fat cat ran very slow

As slow as a cat can go

(A)

(B)

(A)

(B)

(C)

(C)

Sonnet 116: ABAB CDCD EFEF GG1 Let me not to the marriage of true minds (a)2 Admit impediments. Love is not love (b)3 Which alters when it alteration finds (a)4 Or bends with the remover to remove: (b)5 O, no! it is an ever-fixed mark, ©6 That looks on tempests and is never shaken; (d)7 It is the star to every wandering bark, © 8 Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken. (d)9 Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks (e)10 Within his bending sickle's compass come; (f)11 Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks, (e)12 But bears it out even to the edge of doom. (f)13 If this be error and upon me proved, (g)14 I never writ, nor no man ever loved. (g)

Sonnet 116Close Reading describes the careful, sustained interpretation of a brief passage of text. Such a reading places great emphasis on the particular over the general, paying close attention to individual words, syntax, and the order in which sentences and ideas unfold as they are read.

Unit Benchmarks

I can use context to analyze figurative language and determine its impact on the text.

I can describe how an author’s use of words create meaning and tone in a literary text.

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SOAPSTone

S: Speaker - Who is talking in the poem?

O: Occasion - What is the time and place of the poem?

A: Audience - To whom was the poem written?

P: Purpose - Why was the poem written?

S: Subject - What is the poem about?

TONE: Tone - What is the attitude in the poem?

Sample Tone Words

1. accusatory-charging of wrong doing

2. apathetic-indifferent due to lack of energy or concern

3. awe-solemn wonder

4. bitter-exhibiting strong animosity as a result of pain or grief

5. cynical-questions the basic sincerity and goodness of people

6. condescension; condescending-a feeling of superiority

7. callous-unfeeling, insensitive to feelings of others

8. contemplative-studying, thinking, reflecting on an issue

9. critical-finding fault

10.choleric-hot-tempered, easily angered

11. contemptuous-showing or feeling that something is worthless or lacks respect12. caustic-intense use of sarcasm; stinging, biting13. conventional-lacking spontaneity, originality, and individuality14. disdainful-scornful15. didactic-author attempts to educate or instruct the reader16. derisive-ridiculing, mocking17. earnest-intense, a sincere state of mind18. erudite-learned, polished, scholarly19. fanciful-using the imagination20. forthright-directly frank without hesitation

Sonnet 1161 Let me not to the marriage of true minds2 Admit impediments. Love is not love3 Which alters when it alteration finds4 Or bends with the remover to remove:5 O, no! it is an ever-fixed mark,6 That looks on tempests and is never shaken;7 It is the star to every wandering bark,8 Whose worth's unknown, although his height be

taken.9 Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks10 Within his bending sickle's compass come;11 Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,12 But bears it out even to the edge of doom.13 If this be error and upon me proved,14 I never writ, nor no man ever loved.