Sonnets Ms. Pitcher

English 1

Happy, ye leaves! when as those lilly handsWhich hold my life in their dead-doing mightShall handle you, and hold in loves soft bands,Lyke captives trembling at the victors sight.And happy lines! on which, with starry light.Those lamping eyes will deigne sometimes to look,And reade the sorrowes of my dying spright,And happy rymes! bath'd in the sacred brookeOf Helicon, whence she derived is.When ye behold that Angels blessed looke,My soules long-lacked food, my heavens blis,Leaves, lines, and rymes, seeke her to please alone,Whom if ye please, I care for other none!

The sonnet:A fourteen line lyric poem with a single theme.

Each line in the sonnet is usually in iambic pentameter –five groups of two syllables, each with the accent on the second syllable.

Sonnets take definitive form.

Types of sonnets 1.) Petrarchan2.) Spenserian3.) Shakespearean

Sonnet Sequence In a sonnet sequence, the one hundred or so sonnets are linked by theme or person addressed.

As you read each sonnet, try to determine what links each one.

Common Sonnet ThemesThe speaker in love- some sonnets

may explain the depth of his love, while others may praise his beloved.

His love is unfilled (unrequited love)- poems may dramatize his hopes and disappointments or analyze the nature of love.

Petrarchan Sonnet Divided into an eight-line octave, rhyming abba abba followed by a six-line sestet, rhyming cdecde

Often, the octave poses a problem that is answered in the sestet.

Spenserian SonnetRhymes abab bcbc cdcdee

Named after Edmund Spenser

Shakespearean SonnetUses three quatrains, or four line

stanzas

A rhyming couplet- often a dramatic statement that resolves, restates, or redefines the central conflict of the poem.

Rhyme scheme is abab cdcd efef gg

Our Approach to Sonnets:We will use the chart on the following slide

when studying sonnets.

Please do not lose this. A large portion of your Q2 exam is based on identifying and analyzing sonnets!

Sonnet Characteristics ChartSonnet Title:

Number of Lines:

Number of Stanzas:

Number of Lines per Stanza:

Rhyme Scheme:

Sonnet Type:

Summary:• Beginning• Middle• End

Sonnet Theme: