The Sonnet• The sonnet is a poem

steeped in tradition, and favored by some of the English language’s most honored poets.

• The sonnet is a lyric poem– Fourteen lines– Last two lines a couplet– Fixed rhyme scheme

• Closed or fixed form

Sonnet Features• Rhyme scheme:

– Shakespearean: ABAB CDCD EFEF GG

– Spenserian: ABBA CDDC EFG EFG

– Italian: ABBA ABBA CDE CDE• ABBA ABBA CED CED• ABBA ABBA CD CD CD

Shakespearian Sonnet Features• Pattern is similar to a heartbeat

• weakSTRONGweakSTRONGweakSTRONG

• The Shakespearian sonnet is broken up into quatrains and ends with a rhyming couplet

Sonnet Features• The meter of a sonnet is

iambic pentameter—that’s a meter with five sets of iambs, or syllable pairs that follow an unstressed syllable by a stressed syllable.

• The “shift” in a sonnet usually comes in the final rhyming couplet.

Shall I compare thee to a summer rose?

Check out how iambic pentameter works!