Sonnets

“If it’s square, it’s a sonnet.”Thomas C. Foster

Sonnets sonnet: 14 line lyric poem focused on a

single theme Shakespearean sonnet:

three quatrains (four lines) + a coupletrhyme scheme: abab cdcd efef gg

Petrarchan sonnet: An octave (eight lines) + a sestet (six lines)rhyme scheme: abba abba cde cde OR abba abba cdc dcd

Sonnets

turn: resolution or answer to idea posed in first part of sonnetThe sestet usually answers the octaveThe couplet usually resolves the previous 12

linesShakespearean sonnets sometimes have two

turns

Sonnets

rhyme scheme: regular pattern of rhyming words in a poem (indicated by letter notation):

The fair breeze blew, the white foam flew, aThe furrow followed free; bWe were the first that ever burst cInto that silent sea. b

Sonnets

scansion: a method of study that measures rhythms in a poemSeparates metrical feetCounts syllablesMarks accented syllables Indicates pauses

Sonnets

iambic pentameter: a line of poetry withfive iambs an iamb is a metrical foot, or unit of measure,

consisting of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable

pentameter means there are five such feet in a line

Sonnets

iambic pentameter examples: I went / uptown / to buy / a loaf / of bread

Forlorn! / The ve / ry word / is like / a bell To toll / me back / from thee / to my / sole self!