SONNETS

TWO TYPES

Shakespearean (or English) sonnet

Petrarchan (or Italian) sonnet

WHAT IS A

SHAKESPEAREAN

SONNET?

14-line poem

Consists of three quatrains (four lines each) and one couplet

(two lines)

The quatrains establish a problem or theme, which is resolved in

the couplet

QUATRAIN: a

stanza comprised

of four lines

COUPLET: a

pair of lines

that usually

rhyme

VOLTA

The volta is the turning point in the sonnet

The volta in a Shakespearean sonnet comes either between lines 8

and 9 or 12 and 13 – whenever there is a turning point in ideas

IDENTIFY THE QUATRAINS

AND COUPLETMy mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun;

Coral is far more red than her lips' red;

If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;

If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.

I have seen roses damasked, red and white,

But no such roses see I in her cheeks;

And in some perfumes is there more delight

Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.

I love to hear her speak, yet well I know

That music hath a far more pleasing sound;

I grant I never saw a goddess go;

My mistress when she walks treads on the ground.

And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare

As any she belied with false compare. -

1st quatrain

2nd quatrain

3rd quatrain

Couplet

Volta

RHYME SCHEME

My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun;

Coral is far more red than her lips’ red;

If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;

If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.

RHYME SCHEME

Quatrain One: ABAB

Quatrain Two: CDCD

Quatrain Three: EFEF

Couplet: GG

All Shakespearean sonnets have this rhyme scheme!

MAP OUT THE RHYME

SCHEME ON YOUR PAPER

My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun; A

Coral is far more red than her lips' red; B

If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun; A

If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head. B

I have seen roses damasked, red and white, C

But no such roses see I in her cheeks; D

And in some perfumes is there more delight C

Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks. D

I love to hear her speak, yet well I know E

That music hath a far more pleasing sound; F

I grant I never saw a goddess go; E

My mistress when she walks treads on the ground. F

And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare G

As any she belied with false compare. G

METER

Meter describes the regular pattern of stressed and unstressed

syllables in a poem. The meter emphasizes the musical quality of the

language.

Each unit of meter is called a foot, which consists of 1 stressed

syllable and one or two unstressed syllables.

Symbols: unstressed stressed

good BYE

4 METRICAL FEET

Iamb = unstress stress ex. hel-LO

Trochee = stress unstress ex. SHAKE-speare

Anapest = unstr unstr stress ex.

Dactyl = stress unstr unstr ex.

I must finish my journey alone

Anapest example-William Cowper's "Verses Supposed to be Written by Alexander Selkirk" (1782), composed in anapaestic trimeter:

Dactyl example-the first line of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem Evangeline, which is in dactylic hexameter:

The / murmuring / pines and

the / hem locks

Iambic pentameter

Each line consists of ten syllables

Syllables are divided into five pairs called iambs or iambic feet

An iamb is a unit made up of one unstressed syllable followed by

one stressed syllable

MAPPING METER

First, divide up the line into iambs

My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun

Then, mark the unstressed syllables with a ‘u’ and the stressed syllables with

a ‘/’

BLANK VERSE

Unrhymed iambic pentameter is called blank verse

Shakespeare writes his plays using blank verse

Each line usually contains ten syllables that can be broken into five

pairs of iambs

Blank verse mirrored the rhythm and cadence of everyday speech

FUN FACT!

Because it uses carefully constructed language and it reflects

normal, everyday speech, blank verse (and any kind of rhythmic

pattern) is sometimes seen as representing order and organization.

Knowing this, Shakespeare occasionally lapses out of blank verse

when writing the lines of a character who has gone crazy or is losing

his/her mind: going mad = disruption of order/no more speaking

normally!