4. Discussion Subject
Blank Verse and your color poem
Read a stanza or two from your poems to the others
in your group. Identify the conventions used in each.
Blank verse (iambic pentameter)
Metaphor/simile
Alliteration
Assonance
Onomatopoeia
Other?
6. 6. Rhyme
The matching of final vowel or consonant sounds in two
or more words. The following stanza of "Richard Cory"
employs alternate rhyme, with the third line rhyming
with the first and the fourth with the second:
Whenever Richard Cory went down town,
We people on the pavement looked at him;
He was a gentleman from sole to crown
Clean favored and imperially slim.
7. 7. Feminine Rhyme
A rhyme either of two syllables of which the second is
unstressed (double rhyme) as in motion, notion, or of three
syllables of which the second and third are unstressed (triple
rhyme) as in fortunate, importunate. Here is an example
from Sonnet 20 – “A woman's face with nature's own hand”
by William Shakespeare
A woman's face with Nature's own hand painted
Hast thou, the master-mistress of my passion;
A woman's gentle heart, but not acquainted
With shifting change, as is false women's fashion;
8. 8. Internal Rhymes
Rhyming of two words within the same line of poetry. The
following, for example, is from Edgar Allan Poe’s “The
Raven”:
Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore,
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.
`'Tis some visitor,' I muttered, `tapping at my chamber door -
Only this, and nothing more.'
9. 9. Slant Rhymes
Slant rhymes are sometimes called imperfect, partial, near,
oblique, or off rhymes. It is rhyme in which two words share
just a vowel sound (assonance – e.g. “heart” and “star”) or in
which they share just a consonant sound (consonance – e.g.
“milk” and “walk”). Slant rhyme is a technique perhaps more
in tune with the uncertainties of the modern age than strong
rhyme. The following example is also from Seamus Heaney’s
“Digging”:
Between my finger and my thumb
The squat pen rests; snug as a gun
10. 10. Eye Rhymes
Rhyme on words that look the same but which are actually pronounced
differently – for example “bough” and “rough.” The opening four lines of
Shakespeare’s Sonnet 18, for example, go:
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:
11. 11. Identical Rhymes
Simply using the same word twice. An example is in (some
versions of) Emily Dickinson’s “Because I Could not Stop for
Death”:
We paused before a House that seemed
A Swelling of the Ground—
The Roof was scarcely visible—
The Cornice—in the Ground—
13. How to Mark Rhyme Scheme
• Put an “a" in the right margin after the first line. Then, mark every
following line that ends rhymes (remember the many different
kinds of rhyme) with an “a.”
• The first new rhyme sound that occurs after line one gets marked
with a “b." In all likelihood, this will be line two. Every line that
rhymes with it also gets the “b" notation.
• Mark every new rhyme with the next letter of the alphabet. Be
careful not to introduce unnecessary new letters. Check back to
the beginning of the poem if you think a sound already has a letter
to identify it.
• Look at the fully marked-up poem. Notice any patterns in the
rhyming. Determine if the structure identifies a fixed-poem
structure.
14. Example of Marking Rhyme Scheme
Stanza Two from “The Raven” by Edgar Allan Poe
• Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak
December,
And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost
upon the floor.
Eagerly I wished the morrow; - vainly I had sought
to borrow
From my books surcease of sorrow - sorrow for
the lost Lenore -
For the rare and radiant maiden whom the angels
named Lenore
• -Nameless here for evermore.
a
b
c
b
b
b
15. I THINK that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree.
A tree whose hungry mouth is prest
Against the sweet earth's flowing breast
A tree that looks at God all day 5
And lifts her leafy arms to pray;
A tree that may in summer wear
A nest of robins in her hair;
Upon whose bosom snow has lain;
Who intimately lives with rain. 10
Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree.
“Trees”
Joyce Kilmer
These are examples of
couplets
a
a
b
b
c
c
d
d
e
e
f
f
16. Only until This Cigarette is Ended
Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892-1950)
Only until this cigarette is ended,
A little moment at the end of all,
While on the floor the quiet ashes fall,
And in the firelight to a lance extended,
Bizarrely with the jazzing music blended,
The broken shadow dances on the wall,
I will permit my memory to recall
The vision of you, by all my dreams attended.
And then adieu,--farewell!--the dream is done.
Yours is a face of which I can forget
The colour and the features, every one,
The words not ever, and the smiles not yet;
But in your day this moment is the sun
Upon a hill, after the sun has set.
Let’s do this one
together
18. Sonnet Conventions
• 14 lines
• Strict rhyme scheme
• Specific structure
• We’re going to talk about three specific types
o Shakespearean (English)
o Petrarchan (Italian)
o Spenserian
19. Shakespearian Spenserian
• Form: 14 lines: three quatrains
followed by a couplet.
• Content: It is essential that a sonnet
contain a “turn” or “volta.” Often the
first two quatrains explain a problem
or ask a question. The last quatrain
and the couplet offer a solution to
the problem or an answer to the
question. Sometimes this does not
occur until the final couplet, where it
is a commentary on the previous 12
lines.
• Meter: Iambic pentameter
o Unstressed, stressed pattern
• Detroit Five feet (10
syllables)
• Rhyme scheme:
o abab, cdcd, efef, gg
• Form: 14 lines: three quatrains
followed by a couplet.
• Content: It is essential that a sonnet
contain a “turn” or “volta.” Often the
first two quatrains explain a problem
or ask a question. The last quatrain
and the couplet offer a solution to
the problem or an answer to the
question. Sometimes this does not
occur until the final couplet, where it
is a commentary on the previous 12
lines.
• Meter: Iambic pentameter
o Unstressed, stressed pattern
• Detroit Five feet (10
syllables)
• Rhyme scheme:
o abab, bcbc, cdcd, ee
20. Petrarchan
• Form: 14 lines: octave and a sestet
• Content: The octave forms proposition that describes problem, asks
question, or sets situation. The sestet proposes turn or resolution.
• Meter: Iambic pentameter
o Unstressed, stressed pattern
• Detroit Five feet (10 syllables)
• Rhyme scheme:
• octave:
o abba abba
• Rhyme scheme for sestet:
o Can be arranged in various ways:
cdcdcd cdccdc
cdecde cdcdee
21. 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 wander’st 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.
Sonnet 18
William Shakespeare
22. 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 wander’st 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.
__________
Shakespearean Sonnet Form and Structure
_________
_________
Iambic
pentameter A
B
B
A
C
C
D
D
E
E
F
F
G
G
Quatrain
Quatrain
Quatrain
Couplet
octave
sestet
Volta
Lines!14
23. The Subject
Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
• The speaker starts by asking whether he should compare
his subject to with a summer’s day. Then, instead of
considering that further, he gives us a thesis of sorts. The
object of his description is more "lovely" and more
"temperate" than a summer’s day.
24. Lines 3-8
• 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;
• These line focus on a personification of nature, explaining
the cycles of life and details of summer.
25. Lines 7-8
• And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance, or nature’s changing course
untrimm’d;
• With these lines, the speaker gets even broader in his
philosophy, declaring that everything beautiful must
eventually fade away and lose its charm, either by chance
or by the natural flow of time.
26. The Turn: Lines 9-10
• But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st,
• Here is a classic example of a "turn." Suddenly (though it
was foreshadowed a bit in line 8), the tone and direction of
the poem change dramatically: the speaker pronounces
that the person he’s speaking to isn’t subject to all of these
rules of nature. The speaker argues that, unlike the real
summer, his beloved’s summer will never end nor will
his/her beauty ever fade.
27. Lines 11-14
Nor shall death brag thou wander’st 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.
Shakespeare shatters the fourth wall and successfully
predicts that this poem will continue to be read, analyzed, and
re-analyzed for all time. In other words, by allowing us to try
to give life to "thee" (figuring out who he/she was), the
speaker and the poem itself give "thee" life.
28. The Spenserian
Sonnet
Amoretti LXX: Fresh spring the herald of loves mighty king
In this last couplet,
the speaker changes
from addressing
spring to addressing
his beloved. He tells
her to hurry up while
the times is still
"prime" (spring),
because you cannot
get back the time that
you have wasted.
The quatrains are
addressed to spring,
who Spencer asks
to stir his love to
action
29. John Donne: Petrarchan Sonnet
72. "Death be not proud, though some have called thee"
a
b
b
a
a
b
b
a
c
d
d
c
a
a
Octave
Sestet
30. The Turn (Volta)
• Like the Shakespearian and Spenserian convention, a Petrarchan
sonnet has a shift, or "turn," in the argument or subject matter
somewhere in the poem. Usually, the turn occurs at line 9 to
coincide with the introduction of a new rhyme scheme. We are
presented there with a logical or emotional shift by which the
speaker enables himself to take a new or altered or enlarged view
of his subject.
• The volta, though not the sharpest turn in sonnets, comes when
Donne addresses Fate and Chance. While people often assume we
are slaves to Death, Donne points out that Fate and Chance
enslave him. At this point Donne no longer suggests Death lose his
arrogance, but boasts of the worthlessness and foolishness of
Death.
• If you want to rebel, you can argue that the real turn doesn’t
happen until the middle of the last line, when Donne drops this
shocker: "Death, thou shalt die.”
32. HOW TO WRITE A SONNET
1. Decide the purpose and audience of the sonnet.
2. Choose a specific topic (not the title, yet).
3. List things you could say about your topic.
4. Find a relationship between the ideas, audience
and purpose.
5. Write down a 14-line sequence of statements.
6. Convert the 14 lines into rhyming iambic
pentameter.
7. Note specific problem areas.
8. Edit the sonnet.
9. Choose a title.
Revised from Katherine Beckett’s “How to write a sonnet” http://www.calligraphy-
skills.com/how-to-write-a-sonnet.html
33. 1. Decide the Purpose and Audience of
the Sonnet.
Start by deciding the purpose the sonnet must serve and the
audience it’s intended for. Forget for just a moment about how
to write the sonnet. Think instead about who's going to read it
and what effect you want it to have on them.
EXAMPLE: Write a sonnet as a Mother’s Day gift. The purpose
is to make mom feel a warm glow on Mother's Day. Audience
is Mom.
Perhaps your sonnet is just for you to read. It will still be read
by a different you at a different time. What is it that you want
to make yourself think, feel, or remember when you read it?
34. 2: Choose a specific topic
Specific, definite, limited topics are good because a sonnet is a short poem.
Almost any topic can be made to serve your purpose and audience. Since a
sonnet has to show some movement and change anyway, it’s often useful
to start in a different place from where you think you might end up.
EXAMPLE: if you decide to write a sonnet only on the topic of ‘my mom,’
you will end up with a description of her, or a set of memories, or
something similar – it will be a motionless poem in that it will simply circle
about on the same topic.
But if you try to write a sonnet with more motion in its subject matter, by
starting with Mom and then moving on, your sonnet will end up on a topic
other than her. You want it to end about her. So start with something that
isn’t your mom, and then you can move the subject of the sonnet on to her.
35. Choosing a Topic
You don't have to pick a minutely focused topic at random --
but it will probably help to choose a topic that is only loosely
connected with your more general subject-matter, if it's
connected at all. Think of Shakespeare writing about his
beloved; his immediate topic is actually how he isn't going to
compare her with a summer's day.
For example, you could choose a topic as random as a Persian
rug.
36. 3: Find Things to Say
This stage of writing a sonnet has nothing to do with rhyme or
rhythm. You’re just jotting down what you think about the
subject (the Persian rug), especially any points that you feel
might be relevant to your audience (your mom) and purpose
(to make mom feel a warm glow on Mother's Day).
Around eight to twelve ideas should give you enough to get an
idea of how to write the sonnet. Fewer and you might run out
of material; more and it may be hard to focus. You need enough
ideas to find some kind of connection between them in the
next step.
Don't try to only think of good ideas. Just write them down as
they come. You will be amazed what turns out to be useful.
37. 4: Find a Relationship between the Elements
Imagine how your ideas might link to each other. You want to
find some background relationship between (a) the specific
topic you’ve chosen and (b) its purpose and audience.
Play around with different ideas and structures and don’t be
afraid to discard anything you’re not entirely happy with.
EXAMPLE: similarities between a Persian rug and mom:
age, gets better with time, love etc. Start by working out how to write a
sonnet to the rug (‘Ode to a Carpet') and then twist it around from the
ninth line to be really addressed to Mom.
38. Relationship between the Elements (continued)
Link your concept to feelings from home or other reminder of
mom: welcoming: she talks and listens, offers good food, has a
sense of humor, plenty of patience and a talent for making
people feel comfortable. The rug might evoke those sorts of
ideas: warmth, friendliness, goodness, belonging.
This is an important part of how to write a sonnet as it
establishes the background theme. Now, fish for any divine
inspiration. But, if there isn't any, logic will do just as well;
direct comparison and contrast are time-honored devices; or
some sort of pun or twist may hold the subjects together.
There just has to be some sort of link.
39. 5: Write a sequence of ideas in
14 lines
Write 14 lines, each line of which expresses an idea about
roughly what you want to say. (The poem doesn’t have to
rhyme or keep to a beat yet.)
EXAMPLE: Jot down four ideas about the first topic for the first
four lines (or quatrain).
Here they are for the Persian rug:
My rug goes with me everywhere – wherever I go, I take it. It makes me feel
good to look at it with its red, brown and white roses-and-daisies pattern. I like
to imagine the person who wove it thinking (in Persian): That was probably
about sixty years ago, maybe even a little more.
40. Sequence of Ideas (continued)
Now, in the second quatrain, develop that initial theme by
saying more about the colors in the rug:
EX: Anyway, here it is still, my rug, making my home for me in the here
and now. I remember the carpet-seller told me about the dyes they used
to use in those days. They were all from nature: indigo, walnuts,
madder, with plain cotton for white. He said, the color from these dyes
gets softer and brighter with time.
41. Sequence of Ideas (continued)
At the ninth line, which is where the ‘volta’ or 'turn' takes
place, shift the perspective, idea, subject.)
EX: It’s true, you know, and you’re the same, you get better and better
as years pass. The more I live, the more I appreciate what makes me feel
warm and happy. When I see you again no matter after how long it feels
good to be at home with you. Even though I make my own home where
my rug is, you’re the real thing.
Note the movement from rug to mom. Remember, this turn is
an essential convention of the sonnet.
42. Sequence of Ideas (continued)
Now you need to write the last two lines. Think about how to
wrap up your poem, still thinking about your purpose,
audience, topic, and connections!
EX: If I were Persian, I’d have a bone-china tea-pot painted with roses
and daisies. Something warm and lovely from far away to remind me
you’re always close.
This is awfully sweet, perhaps, but it brings together the ideas
so far.
There we are: fourteen lines on a Persian rug and mom.
43. 6: Convert the 14 Lines to Rhyming Iambic Pentameter
This is the most demanding part of writing a sonnet: working your
fourteen lines of raw material into rhyming iambic pentameter.
Choose your rhyme-scheme now. Not the actual rhyming words, just
the pattern of rhymes you want to work with. Remember,
Shakespearian sonnets go abab cdcd efef gg; Spenserian sonnets go
abab bcbc cdcd ee; Petrarchan sonnets often go abbaabba
cdecde/cdccdc/cdecde/cdcdee
You are about to sacrifice some parts of your text, add to other parts,
move ideas around and perhaps bend the grammar a little. You
might even scrap some sections and start them again.
44. 7: Read Through The Work So Far, Noting
Any Problem Areas
By now you should have fourteen rhythmic, rhyming lines.
It’s time to put everything together and read it through,
trying to look at it objectively, as though someone else was
learning how to write a sonnet and you were helping them
improve it.
It will help to read it out loud.
45. Example with possible comments on problem areas
1 Wherever I go, my Persian rug goes too.
2 I love its abstract roses-and-daisies design.
3 It’s more than six decades now since it was new,*
4 And its weaver thought, “I’m proud to call this mine.”**
5 Now it means my home wherever I go,
6 Warm with walnut, indigo and madder dye.
7 The seller said, “Age makes such colors glow***
8 Softer and brighter as the years go by.”
9 And you – have you got better, or have I
10 Better learned to recognize good things?
11 What is my rug, except to signify****
12 The warmth and gladness that your welcome brings?
13 Perhaps my weaver kept a Wedgwood plate*****
14 And smiled to think of Mum each time he ate.
*Third line – awkward rhythm, too long.
**Fourth line – ‘And’ is too sudden, doesn’t link up with the previous line well, and in fact the
whole line is clunky-sounding.
***Line 7 – I don’t like ‘Age’ and ‘glow’ there; they stick out somehow. I think I must have meant
‘grow’. And I’m not sure about the seller’s direct speech. It is too dominant for the tiny walk-on
part he plays in this sonnet.
****Line 11 – it sounds really pretentiously philosophical to ask ‘What is my rug, except …’!
*****Line 13 - ‘My weaver’ seems odd.
46. 8: edit the sonnet to create a final draft
You know how to write a sonnet. You almost have a sonnet.
At this point it's easy to get impatient. But it can still help a
great deal to put the sonnet aside for a few hours in order
to get a fresh impression of it on re-reading.
Your goal during the editing stage is to trim and shape the
sonnet so it flows more smoothly and clearly, less
awkwardly, more rhythmically.
47. 9: Choose a Title
There are very few if any rules for giving titles to sonnets.
An expressive title adds another dimension and can even
alter or enhance the whole meaning of the poem. The title
should ideally be a word or phrase that helps to add new
meaning or depth to your sonnet.
48. 10: The Finished Product
Good Things
Wherever I go, my Persian rug goes too.
I love its abstract roses-and-daisies design.
More than sixty years ago, brand-new,
It made its weaver proud to say, “That’s mine.”
Now it makes my home wherever I go,
Warm with walnut, indigo and madder dye.
The seller showed me how such colors grow
Softer and brighter as the years go by.
And you – have you got better, or have I
Better learned to recognize good things?
I like to think my rug could signify
The kind of warmth your welcome presence brings.
Perhaps that weaver kept a Wedgwood plate
And smiled to think of Mum each time he ate.
• Katherine Scarfe Beckett
49. Homework
• Post #3: Sonnet: Shakespearian,
Petrarchan, or Spenserian
• Reading: Sestina/Villanelle
• Study Terms 1-16
