What is a Shakespearean Sonnet?

Sonnet Structure highly structured poems of 14 lines

ABAB CDCD EFEF GG rhyme scheme

each line is written in iambic pentameter

rhyme sequence structure 3 quatrains (sets of four lines) ending with 1 couplet (a pair of lines).

SONNET Rhyming SchemeLine #1 _______ ALine #2 _______ BLine #3 _______ ALine #4 _______ BLine #5 _______ CLine #6 _______ DLine #7 _______ CLine #8 _______ DLine #9 _______ ELine #10 _______ FLine #11 _______ ELine #12 _______ FLine #13 _______ GLine #14 _______ G

{ Quatrain 1 }

{ Quatrain 2 }

{ Quatrain 3 }

{ COUPLET }

What is Iambic Pentameter?

lines of poetry - divided into 5 metric feet alternately unstressed and stressed syllables used extensively in Shakespeare's plays

Shall I/ compare/ thee to/ a sum/ mer's dayThou art/ more lov/ly and/ more temp/orate

OR

My name/ is Nate/ I love/to go/ to school

Shakespeare’s Sonnets

  Comprised of a collection of 154 poems in sonnet form written by William Shakespeare

themes of love, beauty, politics, and mortality

Poems were probably written over a period of several years

Sonnet 18 is one of the most famous poems in the English language

Shakespeare’s 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 dimmed,

And every fair from fair sometime declines,By chance, or nature's changing course untrimmed:

But thy eternal summer shall not fade,Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st,

Nor shall death brag thou wand'rest in his shade,When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st,

So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

Translation Sonnet #18OOOOH Baby I think I shall compare you to a summer dayBut, you know, you're prettier and even better, even calm

Because sometimes it gets windy and the buds on the trees get shaken off

And sometimes summer doesn't last very longSometimes it's too hot

And everything gorgeous loses its looksdue to an accident or just because everyone and everything gets old and ugly and shabby

BUT (and here's the turn) you're going to keep your looks for ever

Your beauty will last for everI'm going to make sure that you never lose your good looksAnd that nasty old Death can never brag about owning you

Because I shall write this poem about youAs long as men can breathe (are you breathing?)

As long as men can see (are you looking at this poem?)Then this poem lives, and it gives life

and memory to your beauty.

Sonnet 29

When in disgrace with Fortune and men's eyes,I all alone beweep my outcast state,

And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries,And look upon my self and curse my fate,Wishing me like to one more rich in hope,

Featured like him, like him with friends possessed,Desiring this man's art, and that man's scope,

With what I most enjoy contented least,Yet in these thoughts my self almost despising,

Haply I think on thee, and then my state,(Like to the lark at break of day arising

From sullen earth) sings hymns at heaven's gate, For thy sweet love remembered such wealth brings,

That then I scorn to change my state with kings.

Sonnet #29When I feel unlucky and as if no one likes me

I feel all alone and cry it's as if my prayers to heaven have no power at all

because no one is listening I feel sorry for myself and think that 'm the unluckiest person alive

I wish that I had that persons opportunitiesThat I looked like that cute person and

was as popular as the most popular person in my classWishing that I had that man's talent,

and that man's understanding of difficult conceptsNot at all happy with the things I usually enjoy.

Even then, almost hating myself for thinking this wayPerhaps my thoughts think about you, and then my soul,Just like the lark that sings at the moment the light of day

Breaks over the cold earth, sings a song filled with joy and light Because I remember the sweet love we share, and the richness that it brings

And, at that point, remembering what we have together, I wouldn't trademy present condition, not even with a king.

SONNET WORKSHEET  1. I am a Pirate with a wooden __leg __ A 2. _______ B 3. _______ A 4. _______ B

5. _______ C 6. _______ D 7. _______ C 8. _______ D

9. _______ E10. _______ F11. _______ E12. _______ F

13. _______ G14. _______ G