Sonnets 101

Sonnets 101
Your go-to guide for sonnets. There’s also great
resources at these links:
http://www.cummingsstudyguides.net/xSonnets.html
http://www.shakespeare-online.com/sonnets/sonnetanalyze.html
http://burton.byu.edu/Sonnets/default.htm

A Sonnet Has 14 Lines
Whoso list to hunt, I know where is an hind,
But as for me, alas, I may no more;
The vain travail hath wearied me so sore,
I am of them that furthest come behind.
Yet may I by no means my wearied mind
Draw from the deer, but as she fleeth afore
Fainting I follow; I leave off therefore,
Since in a net I seek to hold the wind.
Who list her hunt, I put him out of doubt,
As well as I, may spend his time in vain.
And graven with diamonds in letters plain,
There is written her fair neck round about,
"Noli me tangere, for Caesar's I am,
And wild for to hold, though I seem tame."
The soote season, that bud and bloom forth brings,
With green hath clad the hill and eke the vale;
The nightingale with feathers new she sings;
The turtle to her make hath told her tale.
Summer is come, for every spray now springs,
The hart hath hung his old head on the pale;
The buck in brake his winter coat he flings;
The fishes flete with new repaired scale;
The adder all her slough away she slings;
The swift swallow pursueth the flyes smale;
The busy bee her honey now she mings,
Winter is worn that was the flowers' bale.
And thus I see among these pleasant things
Each care decays, and yet my sorrow springs.

Each line in a sonnet has ten syllables, for
around one hundred and forty total syllables
“Like to these immeasurable mountains”
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
“Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?”
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Sometimes, a line goes over and this may be due to a pronunciation difference.
“Whoso list to hunt, I know where is a hind”
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

Rhyme scheme
• There are two different types of sonnets we’ll be
focusing on. First is the Petrarchan sonnet.
Whoso list to hunt, I know where is an hind, A
But as for me, alas, I may no more; B
The vain travail hath wearied me so sore, B
I am of them that furthest come behind. A
Yet may I by no means my wearied mind A
Draw from the deer, but as she fleeth afore B
Fainting I follow; I leave off therefore, B
Since in a net I seek to hold the wind. A
Who list her hunt, I put him out of doubt, C
As well as I, may spend his time in vain. D
And graven with diamonds in letters plain, D
There is written her fair neck round about, C
"Noli me tangere, for Caesar's I am, E
And wild for to hold, though I seem tame.“ E
The First Eight lines make up the Octave
Notice that all “A” lines end with “ind”
And all “B” lines end with “ore”
Even in a case like “mind/wind” the early
modern tongue would probably pronounce
this as a rhyme
The Final Six lines are the Sestet.
The rhyme changes here (“out “ and “ain”
Before moving to the closing lines -“am”.)
There are variations on this, which usually don’t include the
couplet and finish “CDECDE”
The Petrarchan sonnet offers a unity that can be realized
through the consistent rhymes.

The Elizabethan Sonnet
A woman's face with Nature's own hand painted A
Hast thou, the master-mistress of my passion; B
A woman's gentle heart, but not acquainted B
With shifting change, as is false women's fashion; A
An eye more bright than theirs, less false in rolling, C
Gilding the object whereupon it gazeth; D
A man in hue, all 'hues' in his controlling, C
Much steals men's eyes and women's souls amazeth. D
And for a woman wert thou first created; E
Till Nature, as she wrought thee, fell a-doting, F
And by addition me of thee defeated, E
By adding one thing to my purpose nothing. F
But since she prick'd thee out for women's pleasure, G
Mine be thy love and thy love's use their treasure. G
Shakespeare’s sonnet structure was innovative and would become the most
imitated of all forms. However, Shakespeare does not invent it but perhaps
popularizes it.
This form allows for more room for creativity.
The poem is broken up into Three stanzas and a two line couplet .
Each of these groupings have an independent internal rhyme
scheme.
If the Petrarchan sonnet is about unity, the Shakespearean offers
diversity.
Each four lines can act as a poem in itself.
The closing couplet (two final lines) can offer a conclusion, a
commentary, or can complicate what was written above.

Iambic Pentameter
• The ten syllables of a sonnet are arranged in
iambic pentameter pentameter.
• An iamb is a combination of two syllables in
which the first is unstressed, and the second is
stressed.
• When you mark poetry, you use the following
symbols:

Examples
Out loud, you would read it like this:
and HE was ALways QUIetLY aRRAYED
and HE was ALways HUman WHEN he TALKED
For those who write in Iambic Pentameter, this isn’t accidental. The emphasis
works into the thematic content of the poem. Certain sounds are stressed
over orders. If we cut the “and” of these two lines, WAS gets the
emphasis, which puts it more explicitly in the past. Instead, we focus on
the subject of the lines (He) and end with a stressed action (TALKED).

Other terms: Enjambment
• Enjambment is when you break up a phrase, clause, or even a word over the course of two lines. The line
carries over into the next, and doesn’t act as an independent unit.
– Here’s an example from Shakespeare’s Sonnet 116:
Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
An Enjambed line often leaves us with feeling that a line is incomplete. Meaning carries over from one
line to the next.
However in this case, if we took the first line “Let me not to the marriage of true minds” by itself, it means
something a lot different than the two lines together.
Sonnets often change greatly from one line to the next. Lines respond to other lines, and stanzas respond
to other stanzas. In this case, the second line qualifies the first. Otherwise, we’d be left with the speaker
saying something negative about the “marriage of true minds,” but the second line shows that he will
“not” “admit impedients.” That means something totally different.

Alliteration
Alliteration is when there is a repetition of the sound in the first syllables. It’s similar to a tongue-twister, but not that
overdone in a sonnet.
From Shakespeare’s Sonnet 30:
When to the sessions of sweet silent thought
I summon up remembrance of things past,
I sigh the lack of many a thing I sought,
And with old woes new wail my dear time's waste:
Notice the “s”es of the first line followed by “summon” in the second, “sigh” and “sought” in the third. All three of
these words are connected. The sessions are sweet and silent but they cause him to sigh because of what he
sought. The “s” lulls us in, first to a happy feeling (Sweet, silent thought) to the melancholy (the sighs of his old
woes). Alliteration serves a purpose to the poem. The sounds
One of my favorite examples is from the Beach Boys’ song Feel Flows:
“Whether wholly heartened life fades away
Whether harps heal the memory
Whether wholly heartened life fades away
Whether wondrous will stands tall at my side
Whether whiteness whisks soft shadows away”

Assonance
• Assonance is an internal repetition when a
sound is repeated over the course of a line:
– “The scurrying furred small friars squeal in the
dowse”
– “My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun”
– “The gloves of blarney, they look so charming”
– “My verse your virtues rare shall eternize”
• In that line by Spenser, there is both assonance and
alliteration.

Remember . . . The Speaker
Be careful in saying that speaker of the poem is the
author of the sonnet. It’s often not the case.
Think of the “I” in the poem as “the speaker.”
So in “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day,”
that’s the speaker talking, not necessarily
Shakespeare.
Otherwise, we’d have to find some kind of
biographical consistency across the sonnets, and
that’s never the case.

Also, the object of the poem.
• “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?”
Our first thought is that that Shakespeare is writing
to a woman. However, he never suggests any
gender – it’s just “thee” and “thou.” It’s often
best to think of the “thee” as “his beloved.”
Evidence suggest that Shakespeare was not writing
to a woman, but to the sixteen year old Earl of
Southhampton

Looking at Sonnet 18
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 wand’rest 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.
Take a minute to read
over it – it’s the most
famous sonnet ever
written, and probably
the most famous poem
ever written.

First – some context
Shakespeare wrote 154 sonnets. They’re grouped together by
theme, even if that theme isn’t really clearly laid out.
The first seventeen sonnets deal with procreation: Here’s Sonnet 3 –
How much more praise deserv’d thy beauty’s use,
If thou couldst answer “This fair child of mine
Shall sum my count and make my old excuse,”
Proving his beauty by succession thine!
Evidence suggests that Shakespeare was not writing to a
woman, but to the sixteen year old Earl of Southhampton
In this case, he’s telling the son of a great family that it’s selfish
if doesn’t procreate. In other words, these sonnets aren’t romantic.

More context
That doesn’t mean that none of the sonnets are
romantic. Sonnets 127-152 describe a “dark lady” (a
woman with black hair, eyes, and perhaps even
skin). The woman haunts the speaker – she’s not
necessarily faithful (and neither is he), she’s aging,
she’s not as beautiful as other women, and yet the
speaker is obsessed with her. Here’s Sonnet 138:
When my love swears that she is made of truth,
I do believe her, though I know she lies,
That she might think me some untutor’d youth,
Unlearned in the world’s false subtleties.

Sonnet 18
Sonnet 18 is still about the “fair youth.” But it’s
more about the “fairness” than the need for the
youth to produce an heir. Still, critics believe that
this sonnet is about a young boy rather than a
woman.
Note that there’s nothing feminine about the
subject (“thee” / “thy”). Though there are some
words we’d more typically expect to describe a
woman – “fair” “darling”- these suggest the
(highly traditional) love a man would have for a
woman.
Is this poem necessarily romantic? It’s
praiseworthy, and it celebrates – it’s not erotic,
but it’s almost as though the speaker’s praise for
his subject borders on feelings of intimacy.
But what’s odd about this poem is how much it’s
about the poet and what he does or can do.

Stanza 1
The poem begins with a question,
and it’s simple enough. The “Shall”
seems gentle and promising: I want
to compare you to something
beautiful!
BUT, notice the answer: you’re
better than a summer’s day (“more
lovely and more temperate”). Why?
The reasons are weirdly specific:
– A summer’s day is going to be
prone to whatever nature inflicts
on it (rough winds)
– The “buds” can’t resist that
“shake”ing. (Why shake?)
– Summer ends – it’s “short” (Why
lease)?

Stanza 2
The speaker goes on – not to
describe the beauty of either
the speaker or a summer’s day,
but instead all the things that
are wrong with a summer’s
day.
– It’s too hot
– It’s gold “complexion” is
dimmed (by what?)
– Things that air “fair” get less
“fair”
– Either by “chance” or because
“nature” changes its course.
The summer’s day can’t
resist. It’s not always great.

NATURE
“Nature” is a big, broad word.
On the one hand, it represents a kind
of pure, perfect serene beauty.
But nature is also a “force” that
ACTS, and when it does we can’t do
anything about it except protect
ourselves.
This is one of the things Shakespeare
is dealing with in this poem.
Nature could refer to a lot of things:
human nature / physical nature. But
in this case, it also seems to have a
heavy emphasis on time and aging.

Sonnet 73
That time of year thou mayst in me behold
When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang
Upon those boughs which shake against the cold,
Bare ruined choirs, where late the sweet birds sang.
In me thou see'st the twilight of such day
As after sunset fadeth in the west;
Which by and by black night doth take away,
Death's second self, that seals up all in rest.
In me thou see'st the glowing of such fire,
That on the ashes of his youth doth lie,
As the death-bed, whereon it must expire,
Consumed with that which it was nourish'd by.
This thou perceiv'st, which makes thy love more strong,
To love that well, which thou must leave ere long.
Shakespeare deals with age
frequently – Sonnet 73 refers
to the “ashes of his youth” and
the “twilight” that one will see
in the speaker. The speaker
here is obsessed with death,
with time, and with aging.
(That Shakespeare more than
likely wrote these when he
was a young man shows the
power of his imagination and
also the depth of his anxiety)

Stanza 3
In a fourteen line sonnet,
thee ninth line is called
the “volta,” or the turn.
Note the transition: “BUT.”
The first eight lines set up
a direction for the sonnet,
that if continued, would
be pretty grim. (If you’re
like a summer’s day, that’s
not so great).

Stanza 3
• The speaker here says that “thy” (the
subject’s) summer WON’T fade.
• The “fair” that will decline won’t leave
the speaker’s “possession?” (Could fair
also be like a “fare” that you pay?)
• The speaker won’t die – he is immune
to death.
All of this seems so hopeful and optimistic,
and – of course – impossible. And now we
get to the last line of this stanza:
What are the eternal lines? Lines is a weird
word – how does one “grow” in lines?

A quick detour:
In the last stanza, I mentioned that “fair”
could have two meanings. Think about
what happens if you’re hearing the
sonnet as opposed to reading it. You
would probably think that “fair” is a
“fare” – like something you would pay, as
opposed to “fairness.”
Homonyms are important in sonnets,
because they are ambiguous – or words
that sound like other words.
Look for these as you’re reading sonnets.
Imagine them being reading, or speak a
line out loud. These words are striking
for literary analysis.

Lines
When in eternal lines to Time thou
grow’st.
One way to read “lines” is as
“bloodlines” – we’re back to
procreation. The “lines” of a
family tree (or essentially the
roots).
Since you’re “in” those lines,
you’re safe from the forces that
might be able to stop you.
But . . .

Lines
Another way to read lines
is the poem itself – the
“lines” of the poem itself.
You’ll grow in these lines?
How? How will they be
eternal?

The closing couplet
The couplet offers an “answer”
– Read it: what is the “this”? It
can’t be the speaker (why
“this”?).
Notice: you won’t live forever
but “this” will.
It’s the poem itself that will live
forever. It’s eternal. And every
time someone reads “this,” the
will be reading about the
subject.

The couplet rearranges the meaning of
the entire sonnet. The first line seemed
polite and deferential. But now it seems
like a gesture of power –
• If I compare you to a summer’s day, I
could point out all the things that are
wrong with you, like I could about a
summer’s day.
• Or if I don’t compare you at all – like,
by writing a poem about you – no
one will remember you.
• But, if I write a poem about you,
people will remember you forever.
The poem is the vessel through which
you will survive.
That’s arrogant, it’s ridiculous, it’s crazy.

But the thing is . . .
It’s true. This is probably
the most famous poem
ever written, and even
people who don’t like
poetry know it’s famous
opening line. Teachers like
me, and probably your
high school teachers, have
taught it.

Therefore . . .
We might say what this
poem is about is poetry
itself. Its ability to
immortalize the subject.
Similar to a painting – in
which – the subject lives on
through the representation.
Think about the Mona Lisa:

And yet the other thing is . . .
Who really is the thee here?
It’s unclear in the poem. There’s
no specific details about “thee.”
It’s not even clear what the
gender of “thee” is. Thee is lost
to history, except for critics who
try to figure it out.
Even if we can analyze it and
figure it out, the poem doesn’t
help us much. It’s someone who
is better (we guess) than a
summer’s day. Or needs a poet to
say he or she is better.

Immortalization?
Shakespeare’s
contemporary, Edmund
Spenser, wrote his own take
on this idea.
This sonnet is rare because
the subject (“she”) actually
speaks back.
Read this and think about
the issues of
immortalization.

Questions about sonnets.
What does a sonnet do to its
subject?
What does a sonnet say
about the power of poetry?
What can a sonnet mean
depending on how it
changes, the language it
uses, and the images it
chooses?

Go here to listen to a sonnet being read!
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBmVunP-Nd8
And go here for some help with poetic terms
• http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/0072405228/student_view0/poetic_glossary.html
And here’s a site that allows you to mark sonnets online
• http://prosody.lib.virginia.edu/materials/poems/sonnet-18/
Here’s a video I made about Sonnet 18: (it’s crappy! And it has almost 30000 views!)
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qbfo2NZuBlg&t=7s

Sonnets 101

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