The Sonnet Form

The Traditional

SonnetForm of Lyrical Poetry 14 Lines Distinct rhyme scheme Specific meter

iambic pentameter (10 syllables per line)

iambic hexameter (12 syllables per line)

Types of SonnetsThree Main Types of Sonnets

Petrarchan (or Italian)

Shakespearean (or English)

Spenserian

Iambic Pentameter

Five “iambs” – pent = five

An iamb is two syllables: one soft and

one stressed ∪ ∕

∪ ∕

Example: divine = di vine

Iambic PentameterIambic Pentameter is a line with five iambs –10 syllables – with a pattern of ∪ ∕ ∪ ∕ ∪ ∕

Try it out:

My dearest Love, you’ve suffered such abuse.

My heart, my X-box: DEAD from over-use!

Petrarchan (Italian) Sonnet

Named for Italian poet, Petrarch, 1304-1374 14 Lines in two parts:

⋇Octave (first eight lines)⋇Sestet (final six lines)

The octave poses a problem, a reflection, a question

The sestet answers, responds, or resolves the octave. This turn in focus is called the volta.

Petrarchan (Italian) Sonnet

* Rhyme schemes vary* Theme of Courtly Love * Written in sequences, with

several sonnets addressing a single idea or person

Shakespearean (English) Sonnet

• Specific rhyme scheme: abab cdcd efef gg

• Iambic pentameter• 12 lines address topic• Volta (turn) occurs with rhyming

couplet at the end

Shakespearean Sonnet

• Shakespeare left London and the theatre during plague of 1592-1593 to work on his poetry

• 154 sonnets in three sequences– One sequence to a young man– Another sequence to his

mistress, known as “The Dark Lady”

– Third sequence addresses a variety of life’s issues: betrayal, weariness, exasperation with the world, etc.

Shakespearean Sonnet

Shakespeare broke the “sonnet rules” established by Petrarch

Speaks about politics and human evils having nothing to do with love

Makes fun of love and parodies beauty Talks about sex (eek!)

Spenserian Sonnet

• Variation of the Shakespearean sonnet• Combines Shakespeare’s and

Petrarch’s forms• Three quatrains and a couplet (like

Shakespeare)• Interlocking rhyme scheme (like

Petrarch): abab bcbc cdcd ee

Quick Quiz: Petrarchan, Shakespearean, or Spenserian?

Let me not to the marriage of true minds (aAdmit impediments, love is not love (b)Which alters when it alteration finds, (a)Or bends with the remover to remove. (b)O no, it is an ever fixed mark (c)That looks on tempests and is never shaken; (d)It is the star to every wand'ring bark, (c)Whose worth's unknown although his height be taken. (d)Love's not time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks (e)Within his bending sickle's compass come, (f)Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks, (e)But bears it out even to the edge of doom: (f)If this be error and upon me proved, (g)I never writ, nor no man ever loved. (g)

Yes! Shakespearean!

The give-away is the distinctive rhyme scheme with the couplet volta at

the end:abab cdcd efef gg

Try Again!Milton! thou shouldst be living at this hour: (a)England hath need of thee: she is a fen (b)Of stagnant waters: altar, sword, and pen, (b)Fireside, the heroic wealth of hall and bower, (a)Have forfeited their ancient English dower (a)Of inward happiness. We are selfish men; (b)Oh! raise us up, return to us again; (b)And give us manners, virtue, freedom, power. (a)Thy soul was like a Star, and dwelt apart; (c)Thou hadst a voice whose sound was like the sea: (d)Pure as the naked heavens, majestic, free, (d)So didst thou travel on life's common way, (e)In cheerful godliness; and yet thy heart (c)

The lowliest duties on herself did lay. (e)

Right! Petrarchan!

The key is the volta at the sestet on line 9. The

octave and sestet format is the hallmark of a Petrarchan sonnet.

The Sonnet Form

The End