1. The Sonnet

2. Basic Facts Shakespearean sonnet 3 stanzas 4 lines per stanza Each stanza is related to the previous stanza A couplet at the end: A couplet is two rhymed lines The meter is iambic unstressed, stressed/ unstressed stressed/ The poetry of earth is never dead:

3. Basic construction of a Shakespearean Sonnet 1. 3 Quatrains with a final couplet Quatrain = four-line stanza in a set rhyming pattern Couplet = two rhyming lines First Quatrain 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 to short a date: (B) 2. The rhythm for a Shakespearean Sonnet is Iambic Pentameter Iambic = two syllables (an unaccented followed by an accented) Pentameter = five feet (iambs) per line First Quatrain 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 to short a date:

4. Rhythm-Iambic Pentameter