The Shakespearean SonnetMs. StolpEnglish 9 HonorsRomeo and Juliet Unit

“Ro Ro and Ju Ju”I.i.1-14

What is it?The Prologue

Who is speaking?The Chorus

Why is it important?Entire plot in just 14 lines… kind of ironic, no?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3PIhGgtWTs

Elements of a Shakespearean Sonnet

1. Length (14 Lines) and Format

2. Iambic Pentameter

3. Rhyme Scheme

4. Thematic Scheme

1. Length and Format

Pretty self explanatory… 14 lines BUT

Sonnet is divided into four parts

Quatrain 1 (Lines 1-4)

Quatrain 2 (Lines 5-8)

Quatrain 3 (Lines 9-12)

Couplet (Lines 13-14)Quatrain: a stanza or poem consisting of four lines with a rhyme scheme

Couplet: two lines of poetry that rhyme

WHAT THE HECK?

2. Iambic Pentameter

•10 syllables per line

•Stressed and unstressed syllables

• 5 pairs

•Da DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM

• Ex: da DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM

two HOUSE

holds BOTH a- LIKE in DIG- ni- TY

3. Rhyme Scheme

Two types of rhyme scheme (depends)1.ABAB CDCD EFEF GG2.ABBAABBA CDCDCD or

CDE CDE

PSST, the prologue in R&J is this first one!

4. Thematic SchemeTwo households, both alike in dignity,

In fair Verona, where we lay our scene,

From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,

Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.

From forth the fatal loins of these two foes

A pair of star-crossed lovers take their life;

Whose misadventured piteous overthrows

Doth with their death bury their parents’ strife

The fearful passage of their death mark’d love,

And the continuance of their parents’ rage,

Which, but their children’s end, naught could remove,

Is now the two hours’ traffic of our stage;

The which if you with patient ears attend,

What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend.

Quatrain 1: Introduces a situation, problem, or question

Quatrain 2 and 3: Expand upon the problem or question

Couplet: Concludes the situation; provides a resolution

FIN