This document provides an overview of sonnet forms and structure. It discusses the key elements of sonnets including the Italian (Petrarchan) form with an octave and sestet, and the English (Shakespearean) form with three quatrains and a rhyming couplet. It explains features like iambic pentameter, rhyme schemes, and how sonnets typically introduce a theme or problem in the first section and resolve it after the volta or turn. Examples of sonnets by Wyatt and Shakespeare are analyzed in detail. The document is intended as a lesson on understanding sonnet conventions for students.

1. LOVE SONNETS
British & World Literature
Unit 2, Session 1
October 4, 2012
Working to provide an exemplary individualized
and engaging educational experience for all students.

2. •Note I suggest you listen to the
recording of the session for full
details

3. Warm-up
• Francesco Petrarch and the Italian Sonnet
• Sonnet Quiz Flashcards
• Braingle: Sonnets Quiz

4. Common Core Georgia Performance Standards
• ELACC9-10RL2: Determine a theme or central idea of text and
analyze in detail its development over the course of the
text, including how it emerges and is shaped and refined by
specific details; provide an objective summary of the text.
• ELACC11-12RL5: Analyze how an author’s choices concerning how
to structure specific parts of a text (e.g., the choice of where to
begin or end a story, the choice to provide a comedic or tragic
resolution) contribute to its overall structure and meaning as well
as its aesthetic impact.
• ELACC11-12SL1: Initiate and participate effectively in a range of
collaborative discussions(one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led)
with diverse partners on grades 11-12 topics, texts, and
issues, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly
and persuasively.

5. Keywords to know
 Octave
Couplet  Personification
Diction  Quatrain
Epic  Renaissance
 Rhyme
Figurative language
 Rhyme scheme
Humanism  Rhythm
Imagery  Sestet
Metaphor  Simile
 Speaker
Meter
 Style
Narrative poem  tone

6. •couplet : two consecutive lines of poetry
•diction : the choice of words used by a
speaker or writer
•epic : a long narrative poem that celebrates
the deeds of a heroic figure
•figurative language : language that uses figures
of speech such as metaphor, simile, and
personification for poetic effect rather than for
precise, factual meaning; for example, "Her eyes
are like stars" is figurative language, in contrast
to the literal use of "stars" in "The stars are
shining tonight"

7.  humanism :a movement during the Renaissance that
emphasized secular ideas and concerns, based on
classical studies
 imagery : language that creates a mental picture by
appealing to the senses, that makes readers
see, hear, smell, taste, or feel things in their imagination;
for example, "the coal-black night," "the stinging cold,"
"the rapping and tapping of rain on the roof"
 metaphor : a figure of speech that suggests or states a
comparison between two unlike things, without using
such words as like or as; for example, "The cat s eyes
were emeralds shining in the night."
 meter : the arrangement of words in poetry based on
rhythm, accents, and the number of syllables in a line

8.  narrative poem : a poem that tells a story
 octave : a stanza of eight lines in a poem
 personification : giving human qualities to a
thing or abstraction; for example, "The kettle
sang on the hearth," or "After the
victory, freedom held its head high in the
nation."
 quatrain : a stanza of four lines in a poem
 Renaissance : a general time period stretching
from roughly the fourteenth century to as late
as the seventeenth century when the arts and
intellectual activity flourished in Europe

9.  rhyme : words with similar ending sounds such as
hit/bit, yellow/fellow, bark/park, and so on; when
words at the end of a line of poetry or verse sound the
same, the lines are said to rhyme
 rhyme scheme : the pattern of rhymes made by the
final words or sounds in the lines of a poem, typically
designated by a different letter of the alphabet to
represent each rhyme
 Roses are red a
 Violets are blue b
 Sugar is sweet c
 So are you b

10.  rhythm : a regular pattern of sound and beats within
a poem
 sestet : a stanza of six lines in a poem
 simile : a figure of speech that compares two
things, usually using the words like or as; for
example, "like a thief in the night," "quiet as a
mouse"
 speaker : the imaginary person who speaks the
words of a poem, not necessarily the poet
 style : the words the writer chooses and the way the
writer arranges the words into sentences
 tone : the attitude of the writer toward the topic or

11. Poet vs. Speaker • As with the study of any
poem, you make a distinction
between the poet and the
speaker when reading and
analyzing sonnets.
• The poet is the writer of the
work; Petrarch and
Shakespeare are the poets
• The speaker is the narrator
of the poem. That is, just as a
prose author may write a
novel told from the point of
view of a fictional
narrator, poets may write
verse from the point of view
of a fictional speaker.

12. How to Read a Poem

13. Strategies for Understanding Poetry
1. Organization Read lines according to
Punctuation & organization & punctuation
2. Paraphrase Put it in your own words
Organization
3. Figurative language Interpret figurative
language
4. Sensory image Use your senses

14. 1. Read according to punctuation
• Punctuation in poems indicates when to pause or stop reading.
•Keep reading when there is no punctuation
at the end of a line
•Pause at commas, dashes, colons, semi-
colons (, - : ;)
•Stop at end marks (. ! ?)

16. Parts of a Poem
1. Stanza
Like a paragraph
2. Line
Like a sentence
Like a word
3. Foot
Like a syllable
• 4. Meter

17. Parts of a poem
1. Stanza: a division or section of a poem
1. They are named for the quantity of lines it contains.
 couplet = two lines quatrain = four lines
2. Line: basic unit of poetic form
3. Foot: A basic unit of rhythm within a line, with one
stressed and one unstressed syllable in it
4. Meter: the rhythm or repeating pattern in poetry
1. window (win stressed dow unstressed)
 casino (ca unstressed si stressed no unstressed

18. Iambic Pentameter
•A line of Iambic Pentameter is a line with ten
beats.
•An “Iamb” is two beats, or one “foot.”
•“Penta” is five (line has five “feet”).
•“Meter” is the rhythm of the poem.
•A “foot” is made of an unstressed syllable
and a stressed syllable (in that order).

21. 2. Paraphrase
•Putting the poem in your own words to
make sure you understand it.

23. 3. Interpret figurative language
• Figurative language is language that is not intended to be taken
word for word. It sets up comparisons that help readers see
things in new ways or form a vivid mental picture of something
• She is as happy as a clam
• It’s raining cats and dogs
• It is a million miles away

25. 4. Use your senses
•Being descriptive by using your senses
(sight, hearing, smell, touch, or taste)
to help paint a picture

26. Sensory Image
•Appeals to our 5 senses
•Sweet, sour, bitter
•Icy, sweltering
•Humongous, tiny
•Booming

29. WHAT IS A SONNET?
Understanding the
forms, meter, rhyme, and other aspects of
the sonnet .

30. Sonnets
Historical Background
• The sonnet is a form of poetry that exalts human love and praises
the poet's or speaker's beloved.
• The development of the sonnet is closely related to the rise of a
philosophy known as humanism.
• Humanism: a movement during the Renaissance that emphasized secular ideas
and concerns, based on classical studies
• Every literary period is a reaction to the ideals of the previous
period.
• Humanism is a philosophy that inquires into and deeply considers
human experiences; and of these experiences, one of the most
common is love.
• Love poetry during the Renaissance blossomed with the creation
of a poetic form that has stood the test of time: the sonnet.
• Writing a sonnet is like playing a poetic game that has
strict, specific rules, rules established during the Renaissance and
followed by poets ever since.

31. The Sonnet
• A sonnet is a fourteen-line poem in iambic pentameter with a
carefully patterned rhyme scheme. Other strict, short poetic
forms occur in English poetry (the sestina, the villanelle, and the
haiku, for example), but none has been used so successfully by
so many different poets.

32. Petrarchan Sonnets
Petrarch, a humanist
philosopher, deeply experienced one of
the most common of human
experiences: unrequited love.
In his sonnets, he dwells on this love and how it both enriches and challenges him.
Humanism holds as a worthy subject all human experience; and Petrarch, a father of
humanism, makes use of the compact, dense language of the sonnet to grapple with
what many human hearts endure. (check link)

33. Shakespearean Sonnets
The person who is arguably the
greatest playwright in history is also
one of the greatest poets.
Composing sonnets became a fad in England during Shakespeare's day; more than 1,200
sonnets survive just from the decade beginning in 1590. The sonnet was the perfect
canvas on which the writer could display his wit, his clever use of language, and his
imagination.
By the time Shakespeare's 154 sonnets were published in 1609, however, the vogue for
sonnets had passed. Yet Shakespeare's sonnets, in time, were acknowledged as
masterpieces of thoughtful poetry that transcend the playful, courtly sonnets that were
in fashion during his time. (show link)

34. Let’s compare the two styles of sonnet…
Petrarchan Sonnet Shakespearean Sonnet
The Italian form of the sonnet consists of 14 The English sonnet also has 14 lines, but they
lines divided into an octave (eight lines) are divided into three quatrains (four lines
followed by a sestet (six lines). each) and a rhyming couplet (two lines).
The turn, or volta, occurs at the beginning of The turn, or volta, comes at the beginning of
the sestet, in line 9. line 13 – that is, the beginning of the couplet.
The octave’s rhyme scheme is almost always Each quatrain consists of two pairs of
the same. abbaabba Sometimes you may see
the octave rhyme scheme abbacddc or even
alternating rhyming lines, and the sonnet
(rarely) abababab ends with a rhyming couplet.
The sestet’s rhyme scheme can vary but the The rhyme scheme is almost always :
A and B rhymes of the octave cannot be
used again., abab cdcd efef gg.
When written in English, Petrarchan sonnets Shakespearean sonnets are written in
are written in iambic pentameter. When iambic pentameter, which means that each
they are written in Italian, they do not line contains 10 syllables and every second
follow this meter because it does not lend syllable is stressed.

35. The Sonnet
• The form into which a poet puts his or her words is
always something of which the reader ought to
take conscious note. And when poets have chosen
to work within such a strict form, that form and its
strictures make up part of what they want to say.
In other words, the poet is using the structure of
the poem as part of the language act: we will find
the "meaning" not only in the words, but partly in
their pattern as well.

36. The Sonnet
•The sonnet can be thematically divided into
two sections:
•The first presents the theme, raises an issue
or doubt,
•The second part answers the
question, resolves the problem, or drives
home the poem's point.
•The turn, or change, in the poem helps move
forward the emotional action of the poem
quickly.

37. The Sonnet
•The Italian form, in some ways the simpler of
the two, usually …..
•projects and develops a subject in the octet,
• then executes a turn at the beginning of the
sestet
•so that the sestet can in some way release
the tension built up in the octave.

38. “Farewell Love and all thy laws for ever”
Farewell Love and all thy laws for ever, a
Thy baited hooks shall tangle me no more; b
Senec and Plato call me from thy lore b
To perfect wealth my wit for to endeavour. a
In blind error when I did persever, a
Thy sharp repulse, that pricketh aye so sore, b
Hath taught me to set in trifles no store b
And scape forth, since liberty is lever. a
Therefore farewell; go trouble younger hearts c
And in me claim no more authority; d
With idle youth go use thy property d
And thereon spend thy many brittle darts. c
For hitherto though I have lost all my time, e
Me lusteth no longer rotten boughs to climb. e
- Wyatt Devonshire (1557)

39. The Sonnet
•The Shakespearean sonnet has a wider range
of possibilities.
• One pattern introduces an idea in the first
quatrain
• complicates it in the second
• complicates it still further in the third
• resolves the whole thing in the final couplet.

40. “Sonnet 138” or “When My Love Swears that
She is Made of Truth”
When my love swears that she is made of truth a {First quatrain; note the puns and
I do believe her, though I know she lies, b the intellectual games: [I know she
That she might think me some untutor'd youth, a lies, so I believe her so that she will
Unlearned in the world's false subtleties. b believe me to be young and
untutored]}
Thus vainly thinking that she thinks me young, c {Second quatrain: [Well of course I
Although she knows my days are past the best, d know that she doesn't really think I'm
Simply I credit her false speaking tongue: c
young, but I have to pretend to
believe her so that she will pretend
On both sides thus is simple truth suppress'd. d that I'm young]}
{Third quatrain: [so why don't we
But wherefore says she not she is unjust? e both fess up? because love depends
And wherefore say not I that I am old? f upon trust and upon youth]}
O, love's best habit is in seeming trust, e
{Final couplet, and resolution:
And age in love loves not to have years told: f
[we lie to ourselves and to each
Therefore I lie with her and she with me, g other, so that we may flatter
And in our faults by lies we flatter'd be. g ourselves that we are young, honest,
- William Shakespeare and in love]. Note especially the
puns.

41. The Sonnet: punctuation
•Pay close attention to line-end
punctuation, especially at lines
four, eight, and twelve, and to connective
words like
and, or, but, as, so, if, then, when, or which at
the beginnings of lines (especially lines
five, nine, and thirteen).

42. Review: Sonnet Form
•Has 14 lines.
•Must be written in iambic pentameter
•Must follow a specific rhyme
scheme, depending on the type of sonnet.
•Can be about any subject, though they are
often about love or nature.
•Introduces a problem or question in the
beginning, and a resolution is offered after
the turn.

43. Review
•The Italian, or Petrarchan sonnet:
• Fourteen lines
• Iambic pentameter
• Consists of an octet (eight lines) of two envelope
quatrains
•Usually abba abba,
•Sometimes abba cddc,
•Or rarely abab abab;
•The turn occurs at the end of the octet and
is developed and closed in the sestet.
• And a sestet (six lines)
•Which may rhyme xyzxyz
•Or xyxyxy

44. Review
• The English or Shakespearean sonnet:
•Fourteen lines
•Iambic pentameter
•Consists of three Sicilian quatrains (four
lines)
•And a heroic couplet (two lines)
•Rhymes: abab cdcd efef gg
•The turn comes at or near line 13

45. What type of sonnet is
“What the Sonnet Is”?
•We are going analyze a sonnet to determine
what “type” of sonnet it is…..
•Ask yourself the following questions
•What are the groupings of the lines (how
many lines are in each group)?
•What is the rhyme scheme?
•Where is the turn?
•Based on your answers, what kind of sonnet
is it?

46. “What the Sonnet is”
Fourteen small broidered berries on the hem
Of Circe’s mantle, each of magic gold;
Fourteen of lone Calypso’s tears that rolled
Into the sea, for pearls to come of them;
Fourteen clear signs of omen in the gem
With which Medea human fate foretold;
Fourteen small drops, which Faustus, growing old,
Craved of the Fiend, to water Life’s dry stem.
It is the pure white diamond Dante brought
To Beatrice; the sapphire Laura wore
When Petrarch cut it sparkling out of thought;
The ruby Shakespeare hewed from his heart’s core;
The dark, deep emerald that Rossetti wrought
For his own soul, to wear for evermore.
~Eugene Lee-Hamilton

47. •What are the groupings of the
lines (how many lines are in each
group)?

48. “What the Sonnet is”
Fourteen small broidered berries on the hem
Of Circe’s mantle, each of magic gold;
Fourteen of lone Calypso’s tears that rolled
Into the sea, for pearls to come of them;
Fourteen clear signs of omen in the gem
With which Medea human fate foretold;
Fourteen small drops, which Faustus, growing old,
Craved of the Fiend, to water Life’s dry stem.
It is the pure white diamond Dante brought
To Beatrice; the sapphire Laura wore
When Petrarch cut it sparkling out of thought;
The ruby Shakespeare hewed from his heart’s core;
The dark, deep emerald that Rossetti wrought
For his own soul, to wear for evermore.
~Eugene Lee-Hamilton

49. What type of sonnet is
“What the Sonnet Is”?
Fourteen small broidered berries on the hem
Of Circe’s mantle, each of magic gold;
Fourteen of lone Calypso’s tears that rolled
Into the sea, for pearls to come of them;
Fourteen clear signs of omen in the gem
With which Medea human fate foretold;
Fourteen small drops, which Faustus, growing old,
Craved of the Fiend, to water Life’s dry stem.
It is the pure white diamond Dante brought
To Beatrice; the sapphire Laura wore
When Petrarch cut it sparkling out of thought;
The ruby Shakespeare hewed from his heart’s core;
The dark, deep emerald that Rossetti wrought
For his own soul, to wear for evermore.

50. •What is the rhyme
scheme?

51. “What the Sonnet is”
Fourteen small broidered berries on the hem
Of Circe’s mantle, each of magic gold;
Fourteen of lone Calypso’s tears that rolled
Into the sea, for pearls to come of them;
Fourteen clear signs of omen in the gem
With which Medea human fate foretold;
Fourteen small drops, which Faustus, growing old,
Craved of the Fiend, to water Life’s dry stem.
It is the pure white diamond Dante brought
To Beatrice; the sapphire Laura wore
When Petrarch cut it sparkling out of thought;
The ruby Shakespeare hewed from his heart’s core;
The dark, deep emerald that Rossetti wrought
For his own soul, to wear for evermore.
~Eugene Lee-Hamilton

52. What type of sonnet is
“What the Sonnet Is”?
Fourteen small broidered berries on the hem
Of Circe’s mantle, each of magic gold;
Fourteen of lone Calypso’s tears that rolled
Into the sea, for pearls to come of them;
Fourteen clear signs of omen in the gem
With which Medea human fate foretold;
Fourteen small drops, which Faustus, growing old,
Craved of the Fiend, to water Life’s dry stem.
It is the pure white diamond Dante brought
To Beatrice; the sapphire Laura wore
When Petrarch cut it sparkling out of thought;
The ruby Shakespeare hewed from his heart’s core;
The dark, deep emerald that Rossetti wrought
For his own soul, to wear for evermore.

53. •Where is the turn?

54. “What the Sonnet is”
Fourteen small broidered berries on the hem
Of Circe’s mantle, each of magic gold;
Fourteen of lone Calypso’s tears that rolled
Into the sea, for pearls to come of them;
Fourteen clear signs of omen in the gem
With which Medea human fate foretold;
Fourteen small drops, which Faustus, growing old,
Craved of the Fiend, to water Life’s dry stem.
It is the pure white diamond Dante brought
To Beatrice; the sapphire Laura wore
When Petrarch cut it sparkling out of thought;
The ruby Shakespeare hewed from his heart’s core;
The dark, deep emerald that Rossetti wrought
For his own soul, to wear for evermore.
~Eugene Lee-Hamilton

55. What type of sonnet is
“What the Sonnet Is”?
• The turn in this sonnet is between the octave and
the sestet, or after eight lines.
• The period at the end of line eight is a clue that this
is the turn, especially because it is one of only two
periods in the sonnet.
• Before the turn, the speaker is telling of groups of
fourteen; after the turn, he tells of who wrote the
sonnets.

56. What type of sonnet is
“What the Sonnet Is”?

57. What type of sonnet is
“What the Sonnet Is”?
“What the Sonnet Is” is an
Italian/Petrarchan Sonnet!

58. Organization
1. Stanzas are made up of
2. Lines are made up of
3. Meter are made up of
4. Feet