Characteristics of the Sonnet
And
Student Sonnet Guidelines
Sonnets
y All sonnets are lyric poems of 14 lines, written in iambic (an
unstressed syllable followed by stressed syllable), pentameter
(five iambs to a line).
y The two major forms of the sonnet are the Italian, also called
the Petrarchan, and the English, also called the
Shakespearean.
y A less popular form of English sonnet is the Spenserian.
Like much poetic literature, the sonnet has common figurative language and
themes that we call conceits or conventions.
Some of the most common ones found in Renaissance sonnets come from the
Courtly Love tradition:
y Love is viewed as torture, slavery, death, war, or a hunt.
y The lady is viewed as a master or queen, a “cruel fair,” a celestial object (star, moon),
a doe, a tyrant.
y The lady is praised for her virtue and her beauty. Commonly, the poet objectifies her
body by singling out specific parts to honor and worship, such as her eyes, lips,
breasts, and hands.
y The lady has power in her gaze and can destroy or inspire with a look.
y The poet will often speak in apostrophe – a poetic device where one talks to an
inanimate object, such as the moon or a dead person.
y The poet will engage in paradox: a statement that seems contradictory or absurd but
may be true. This statement draws attention to something the poet thinks is
important. (See Spenser’s sonnet about ice and fire – her ice enflames him and his
fire freezes her).
y Hyperbole is used to express the poet’s emotions – exaggeration for effect.
Italian Sonnet:
y Most Italian sonnets have two distinct sections. The first eight lines,
y
y
y
y
called the octave, generally follows the rhyme scheme: abba abba.
The second is formed by the last six lines, the sestet, usually has more
flexibility in rhyme schemes, though the most common ones are:
cdecde; cdcdcd; cdccdc.
The second half of the Italian sonnet indicates a turn in the sonnet – a
change of subject, an expression of enlightenment, etc. We call this a
volta.
The octave often forms a question or presents a problem that the poet is
seeking greater insight to. The volta is his attempt to answer. This turn is
what gives the sonnet form it’s more philosophical bent.
An example of the Italian sonnet form is Wyatt’s “Whoso Lists to Hunt.”
Italian Sonnet Form Example:
Whoso List to Hunt
By Sir Thomas Wyatt
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 farthest cometh 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.
a
b
b
a
a
b
b
a
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.
c
d
d
c
e
e
English Sonnet:
y Unlike the Italian sonnet, the English sonnet breaks into 3 quatrains and
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y
y
y
y
y
an ending couplet.
The rhyme scheme is: abab cdcd efef gg.
This rhyme scheme is more suited to the English language where it is
harder to find enough words to rhyme if following the abba abba scheme
of the Italian sonnet.
Each quatrain expresses a thought, oftentimes building in intensity to the
couplet.
Other times, the quatrains are parallel – using different metaphors to
express the poet’s concern.
Like the Italian sonnet, the English sonnet usually poses a problem or
question.
The volta in the English sonnet can be at line 9, as in the Italian sonnet,
or it can come at the couplet. An example of the English sonnet is
Shakespeare’s Sonnet LXXIII (73)
English Sonnet Form Example:
Sonnet 73, By William Shakespeare
That time of year thou may'st in me behold
When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang
Upon those boughs which shake against the cold,
Bare ruin'd choirs, where late the sweet birds sang.
a
b
a
b
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.
c
d
c
d
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
Consum'd with that which it was nourish'd by.
e
f
e
f
This thou perceivest, which makes thy love more strong,
To love that well which thou must leave ere long.
g
g
Spenserian Sonnet:
y Developed by Edmund Spencer, this follows the
quatrain/couplet division of the English sonnet, but with
overlapping rhymes: abab bcbc cdcd ee.
y Usually, Spenser’s volta is at the couplet. An example is
sonnet 30:
Spenserian Sonnet Form Example:
Sonnet 30, by Edmund Spenser
MY love is like to ice, and I to fire;
how comes it then that this her cold so great
is not dissolv'd through my so hot desire,
but harder grows the more I her intreat?
a
b
a
b
Or how comes it that my exceeding heat
is not delayed by her heart frozen cold:
but that I burn much more in boiling sweat,
and feel my flames augmented manifold?
b
c
b
c
What more miraculous thing may be told
that fire which all things melts, should harden ice:
and ice which is congeal'd with senseless cold,
should kindle fire by wonderful device.
c
d
c
d
Such is the power of love in gentle mind,
that it can alter all the course of kind.
e
e
Student Sonnets
Your Assignment:
y Write an original sonnet using one of the forms we’ve been
studying in class: Italian, English, or Spenserian, consisting of
14 lines with the correct rhythm and rhyme scheme.
y Your final copy must be neatly written or typed and
decorated. It must have an original title, and your rhyme
scheme must be properly labeled.
Objectives:
y Learn to write a sonnet in iambic pentameter, just like
Shakespeare and others did.
y Discover the rhythm and rhyme schemes of the quatrains,
couplets, octaves, or sestets that make up a Renaissance
sonnet.
The rubric:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Your sonnet must consist of 14 lines.
Your sonnet must have 10 syllables per line.
Your sonnet must stick to the English or Italian method of
development.
Your sonnet must be written in one of the traditional
rhyme schemes associated with the Renaissance sonnet:
ABAB CDCD EFEF GG (English); ABAB BCBC CDCD EE
(Spenserian); ABBAABBA CDECDE (Italian).
Your sonnet must make sense.
Your final, decorated copy is due Monday, February 24,
2014.