Shakespearean Sonnets
The Basics 14 lines EXACTLY 3 quatrains, 1 couplet Iambic Pentameter Shakespearean rhyme scheme ABAB CDCD EFEF GG Theme within the ending couplet © www.thissavvylife.com
What is a Quatrain? A quatrain is four lines of rhyming poetry. © www.thissavvylife.com A quatrain is four lines of rhyming poetry. 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.
What is a Couplet? A couplet is two lines of rhyming poetry. So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see, So long lives this, and this gives life to thee. © www.thissavvylife.com
What is Iambic Pentameter? Iambic pentameter describes the rhythm within lines of poetry; specifically, five FEET of iambic rhythm or meter (same thing). © www.thissavvylife.com
What is a Foot? In poetry, a FOOT refers to a set of two syllables. © www.thissavvylife.com In poetry, a FOOT refers to a set of two syllables. today the dog hello goodbye
It’s not TOday. It’s toDAY. What is an Iamb? © www.thissavvylife.com An Iamb consists of two syllables (one foot) that have an unstressed, stressed pattern. today It’s not TOday. It’s toDAY.
What is Pentameter? © www.thissavvylife.com Pentameter refers to the meter (rhythm) in a poem when it has FIVE feet in one line. Think pentagon (five sides) Shall I compare thee to a sum mer’s day? 1 2 3 4 5
What is Rhyme Scheme? Rhyme scheme is the pattern that ending words follow. © www.thissavvylife.com
Shakespearean Rhyme All Shakespearean sonnets follow the same rhyme scheme, which is: ABAB CDCD EFEF GG © www.thissavvylife.com
Like This: © www.thissavvylife.com Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? (A) Thou art more lovely and more temperate. (B) Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, (A) And summer's lease hath all too short a date. (B) Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines, (C) And often is his gold complexion dimmed; (D) And every fair from fair sometime declines, (C) By chance, or nature's changing course, untrimmed; (D) But thy eternal summer shall not fade, (E) Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st, (F) Nor shall death brag thou wand'rest in his shade, (E) When in eternal lines to Time thou grow'st. (F) So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see, (G) So long lives this, and this gives life to thee. (G) © www.thissavvylife.com
Ready for Application? Let’s do a close reading of the Prologue of Romeo and Juliet. See if you can recognize these qualities within this poem. © www.thissavvylife.com
The Prologue, Romeo and Juliet Two households, both alike in dignity, In fair Verona, where we lay our scene, From ancient grudge break to new mutiny, Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean. From forth the fatal loins of these two foes A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life; Whose misadventured piteous overthrows Do with their death bury their parents' strife. The fearful passage of their death-mark'd love, And the continuance of their parents' rage, Which, but their children's end, nought could remove, Is now the two hours' traffic of our stage; The which if you with patient ears attend, What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend. © www.thissavvylife.com