The document discusses Shakespeare's sonnets and sonnet conventions. It provides information on the typical structure of a Shakespearean sonnet, including the rhyme scheme of abab cdcd efef gg and how it is composed of three quatrains followed by a couplet. It also discusses the typical presence of a "turn" or shift in meaning between the first 12 lines and the concluding couplet. Additionally, the document outlines characteristics of Petrarchan and Spenserian sonnets.

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AGENDA
 Lecture: Sonnets
 Style and Format
 Activity: Scansion
 Recitation Sign up sheet
 Introduction
 Twelfth Night

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Shakespeare’s Sonnets
The composition dates of Shakespeare’s sonnets is unknown, though it
is likely that he wrote them over a period of several years, beginning in
the early 1590s. Some of them were being circulated in manuscript form
among his friends as early as 1598. In 1599 two of them—138 and
144—were published in The Passionate Pilgrim, a verse anthology
written by several authors. The sonnets as we know them were certainly
completed no later than 1609, when they were published by Thomas
Thorpe under the title Shake-speares Sonnets. According to
Shakespearean scholars, it is likely that Thorpe obtained the manuscript
on which he based his publication from someone other than the
Shakespeare. Few believe that Shakespeare oversaw the publication of
Thorpe’s edition because the text is riddled with errors. Still, Thorpe's
1609 compilation is the source for all modern texts of the sonnets.

4. +Shakespearean Sonnet Conventions
With only a few exceptions—Sonnets 99, 126, and 145—Shakespeare's
verses follow the established English form of the sonnet.
Each is a fourteen-line poem in iambic pentameter, comprising four
sections: three quatrains, or groups of four lines, followed by a couplet
of two lines.
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, particularly in Shakespearean sonnets, this “turn” does not
occur until the final couplet, where it is a commentary on the previous
twelve lines.
It should be noted that some of Shakespeare's final couplets do not fit
the conventional strategy of summary. Shakespeare did, however,
employ the traditional English sonnet rhyme-scheme: abab, cdcd, efef,
gg.

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Iambic Pentameter
Meter: Iambic pentameter
Unstressed, stressed pattern
Detroit-Detroit-Detroit-Detroit-Detroit
Five feet (10 syllables)
Shall I compare the too a summer’s day
Detroit-Detroit-Detroit-Detroit-Detroit
Though art more lovely and more temperate
Detroit-Detroit-Detroit-Detroit-Detroit

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Sonnet Conventions
14 lines
Strict rhyme scheme
Specific structure
We’re going to talk about three specific types
Shakespearean (English)
Petrarchan (Italian)
Spenserian

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The Spenserian Sonnet
 Form: 14 lines: three quatrains followed by a
couplet.
 Content: It is essential that a sonnet contain a “turn”
or “volta.”
 Meter: Iambic pentameter
 Unstressed, stressed pattern
 Detroit Five feet (10 syllables)
 Rhyme scheme:
 abab, bcbc, cdcd, ee

8. Is it | her na | ture or | is it | her will,
To be so cruel to an humbled foe?
If nature, then she may it mend with skill,
If will, then she at will may will forgo.
But if her nature and her will be so,
that she will plague the man that loves her most:
And take delight t'increase a wretch's woe,
Then all her nature's goodly gifts are lost.
And that same glorious beauty's idle boast,
Is but a bait such wretches to beguile:
As being long in her love's tempest tossed,
She means at last to make her piteous spoil.
Of fairest fair let never it be named,
That so fair beauty was so foully shamed.
In this example, you can
see how Spenser links the
idea of each quatrain into
a continuous thought,
which he reflects in the
rhyme scheme. We also
find that the final couplet,
once again distinguished
by elements of rhyme,
characteristically presents
a different idea from the
rest of the sonnet or
comments on it in some
way.
Sonnet No. 41, from Amoretti

9. +The Petrarchan Sonnet
 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
 Unstressed, stressed pattern
 Detroit Five feet (10 syllables)
 Rhyme scheme:
 octave:
 abba abba
 Rhyme scheme for sestet:
 Can be arranged in various ways:
cdcdcd cdccdc
cdecde cdcdee

10. "London, 1802” by William Wordsworth
1. Milton! thou shouldst be living at this hour:
2. England hath need of thee: she is a fen
3. Of stagnant waters: altar, sword, and pen,
4. Fireside, the heroic wealth of hall and bower,
5. Have forfeited their ancient English dower
6. Of inward happiness. We are selfish men;
7. Oh! raise us up, return to us again;
8. And give us manners, virtue, freedom, power.
9. Thy soul was like a Star, and dwelt apart;
10.Thou hadst a voice whose sound was like the
sea:
11.Pure as the naked heavens, majestic, free,
12.So didst thou travel on life's common way,
13.In cheerful godliness; and yet thy heart
14.The lowliest duties on herself did lay.
The Petrarchan Sonnet is
divided into two sections by
the two differing rhyme
groups. In accordance with
the principle, a change from
one rhyme group to another
signifies a change in subject
matter. This change occurs
at the beginning of L9 in the
Italian sonnet and is called
the volta,or "turn"; the turn is
an essential element of the
sonnet form. It is at the volta
that the second idea is
introduced

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The Shakespearian Sonnet
 Form: 14 lines: three quatrains followed by a
couplet.
 Content: It is essential that a sonnet contain a
“turn” or “volta.” Meter: Iambic pentameter
 Unstressed, stressed pattern
 Detroit Five feet (10 syllables)
 Rhyme scheme:
 abab, cdcd, efef, gg

12. +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

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_________
_
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
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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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In Groups
Work
together on
Sonnet 71.
Scan it,
name it, and
find the
figurative
language

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Recitation: A Sonnet or Soliloquy 50
points
Each person in class will do one presentation
of either a sonnet or soliloquy
(speech/monologue), including a written
summary—half a page describing the content
and the formal elements —and a memorized
performance.
Please sign up on the sheet that is being
circulated!

21. +Now You Try: Scan it, name it, and find
the figurative language

22. +
Scan it, name it, and find the figurative
language
Lines 1 through 4

23. +
Lines 5 through 8

24. +
Lines 9 through 12

25. +
Lines 13 and 14

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27. + Twelfth Night—an allusion to the night of
festivity preceding the Christian
celebration of the Epiphany—combines
love, confusion, mistaken identities, and
joyful discovery.
After the twins Sebastian and Viola
survive a shipwreck, neither knows that
the other is alive. Viola goes into service
with Count Orsino of Illyria, disguised as a
young man, “Cesario.”
*Synopsis from the Folger
Version of Twelfth Night
1:53
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R39jE4
SUEF4
Here is a trailer from a
contemporary version to get
you started.

28. +
Read: Twelfth Night: Acts 1 and 2
Post #3: Choose one
1. Compare and contrast the misidentification in Twelfth Night with
that from A Comedy of Errors.
2. Consider common practices of traditional wooing. In what way
would they be different from Cesario’s endeavors to woo Olivia for
Duke?
3. How does the clown prove that Olivia is a fool? Is he correct or
incorrect in his assessment? (Act 1 Scene 5) Explain your answer
with evidence from the text.
4. Analyze Maria’s speeches in Act 2 scene 3. Explain carefully her
motive to entrap Malvolio. Do you believe that she is justified in
doing it?
5. QHQ