1. Sonnets Ms. Pitcher English 1
Happy, ye leaves! when as those lilly hands Which hold my life in their dead-doing might Shall handle you, and hold in loves soft bands, Lyke captives trembling at the victors sight. And happy lines! on which, with starry light. Those lamping eyes will deigne sometimes to look, And reade the sorrowes of my dying spright, And happy rymes! bath'd in the sacred brooke Of Helicon, whence she derived is. When ye behold that Angels blessed looke, My soules long-lacked food, my heavens blis, Leaves, lines, and rymes, seeke her to please alone, Whom if ye please, I care for other none!
Ms. Pitcher
English 1

2. The sonnet: A fourteen line lyric poem with a single theme.
Each line in the sonnet is usually in iambic pentameter –five groups of two syllables, each with the accent on the second syllable.
Sonnets take definitive form.

3. Types of sonnets
1.) Petrarchan
2.) Spenserian
3.) Shakespearean

4. Sonnet Sequence
In a sonnet sequence, the one hundred or so sonnets are linked by theme or person addressed.
As you read each sonnet, try to determine what links each one.

5. Common Sonnet Themes
The speaker in love- some sonnets may explain the depth of his love, while others may praise his beloved.
His love is unfilled (unrequited love)- poems may dramatize his hopes and disappointments or analyze the nature of love.

6. Petrarchan Sonnet
Divided into an eight-line octave, rhyming abba abba followed by a six-line sestet, rhyming cdecde
Often, the octave poses a problem that is answered in the sestet.

7. Spenserian Sonnet
Rhymes abab bcbc cdcdee
Named after Edmund Spenser

8. Shakespearean Sonnet Uses three quatrains, or four line stanzas
A rhyming couplet- often a dramatic statement that resolves, restates, or redefines the central conflict of the poem.
Rhyme scheme is abab cdcd efef gg

9. Our Approach to Sonnets:
We will use the chart on the following slide when studying sonnets.
Please do not lose this. A large portion of your Q2 exam is based on identifying and analyzing sonnets!

10. Sonnet Characteristics Chart
Sonnet Title:
Number of Lines:
Number of Stanzas:
Number of Lines per Stanza:
Rhyme Scheme:
Sonnet Type:
Summary:
Beginning
Middle
End
Sonnet Theme: