The Sonnet Understanding and Appreciation of the sonnet form ‘Sonetto’ – Little Song (Italian)

The SonnetUnderstanding and Appreciation of

the sonnet form‘Sonetto’ – Little Song (Italian)

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Learning

Outcomes

I can identify a sonnet poem and explain what the key features are. I can write a critical essay which compares and contrasts two examples of sonnet poetry. I can discuss thoughtfully a range of sonnet poems and demonstrate some knowledge of their writers.


Key

Areas for Study

Sonnet as form: rhythm, rhyme & structure

Techniques Finding the volta: form and

meaning Identifying the speaker Analysis of language Themes


Features of a

Sonnet

14 lines per sonnet - Structure 10 syllables per line - Rhythm Iambic Pentameter – Rhythm Particular Rhyme Scheme - Rhyme Particular Structure - Structure


Sonnet Types

Elizabethan (English / Shakespearean)

Petrarchan (Italian)


Elizabethan Sonnet

Sonnet 18

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate: Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, And summer's lease hath all too short a date: Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines, And often is his gold complexion dimm'd; And every fair from fair sometime declines,By chance or nature's changing course untrimm'd;But thy eternal summer shall not fade Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest; Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade,When in eternal lines to time thou growest: So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,So long lives this and this gives life to thee.

TASK: Working as a group attempt to identify any aspect of the sonnet which relates to the areas already mentioned: Structure, Rhyme, Rhythm.


Iambic Pentameter

METRE - Sound patterns which create rhythm RHYTHM - is measured in small groups of syllables

(known as ‘feet’) IAMBIC – Describes the type of ‘foot’ that is used PENTAMETER – indicates that a line has ‘five’ feet In English – an unstressed syllable tends to be followed by

a stressed syllable Different languages express rhythm in different ways SYLLABLES – Unstressed – SHORT / Stressed = LONG When a pair of syllables is arranged unstressed / stressed,

that ‘foot’ is considered to be IAMBIC


Example

The word ‘trapeze’ is made up of two syllables.

‘Tra’ (unstressed/short) & ‘peze’ (stressed/long)

Therefore, the stress is on the second syllable

‘tra – PEZE’ rather than ‘TRA-peze’


Iambic Pentameter

Is made up of FIVE pairs of unstressed / stressed syllables (iambs)

Example

An iambic foot can be expressed as:

Da DUMA standard line of iambic pentameter is five iambic feet

in a row:

Da DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM

x / x / x / x / x /


Variations

1 2 3 4 5Now is the winter of our discontent

/ x x / x / x / x /

Here the stressed and unstressed syllable have been inverted at the beginning


Variations

1 2 3 4 5

To be or not to be, that is the question x / x / x / / x x / (x)

It is also common to add a final unstressed syllable, which in turn creates a weak (feminine) ending


Anal

ysis

of

a

Sonnet

Opening Question – Which the rest of the poem will explore and try to answer

Interim Question – a subsequent question to be addressed.

The answer to the opening / interim question

A longer illustration

An observation or philosophical thought

Explanation / Expansion

Minor Turn (unlike the Italian sonnet the English sonnet does not turn completely at line 9.)

The claim / declaration

The couplet – usually containing the ‘turn’ and the conclusion.

These are the main aspects of the sonnet to look out for although it’s worth noting that not all sonnets will have every element.


Anal

ysis

of

a

Sonnet

Task:Working in your group of four, discuss and analyse all three quatrains and the rhyming couplet of Sonnet 18

Use your textual analysis skills (as well as the techniques you know for analysing language) to attempt to explain what the sonnet is about.

It may be useful to attempt to write the sonnet out in contemporary English


Analysis

of

a

Sonnet

Compare your group analysis to that of the actual analysis on the printed hand out.

Were you close?

Documents

The Sonnet Understanding and Appreciation of the sonnet form ‘Sonetto’ – Little Song (Italian)