1. Petrarch, Spenser, and Shakespeare
Sonnets
Petrarch, Spenser, and Shakespeare

2. Francesco Petrarch 1304-1374 B. Arezzo, Italy
Poet, Scholar and Humanist during the Italian Renaissance
His sonnets became a model of poetic form for all of Europe

5. Petrarchan Sonnet Form
Consists of two parts:
Octave (8 lines)
Introduces a problem or situation which leads to conflict or doubt in the reader
Introduced in the 1st quatrain and developed in the 2nd quatrain
Volta
The turn, or transition, between the two main parts. Found at the beginning of the Sestet.
Sestet (6 lines)
Comments on or proposes a solution to the problem put forth in the Octave

6. Petrarchan Sonnet Form
Written in Iambic Pentameter
A 10 syllable line in which stresses alternate and there were 5 stressed and 5 unstressed syllables in each line
Stresses and caesuras are marked on the Keats’ line below: ˘ / To
swell
the
gourd,
and
plump
ha-
zel
shells

7. Petrarchan Sonnet Form
Sonnets have a strict rhyme scheme
Octave: Only one option
a b b a a b b a
Sestet: Many options in Petrarchan Sonnets
c d c d c d
c d d c d c
c d e c d e
c d e c e d
c d c e d c
c d e d c e

8. Petrarch Sonnet 3 It was on that day when the sun’s ray
Was darkened in pity for its Maker
That I was captured, and did not defend myself,
Because your lovely eyes had bound me, Lady.
It did not seem to me a time to guard myself
Against Love’s blows: so I went on
Confident, unsuspecting; from that, my troubles
Started, amongst the public sorrows.
Era il giorno ch’al sol si scoloraro
Per la pieta del suo factore i rai,
Quando i’ fui preso, et non me ne guardai,
Che i be’ vostr’occhi, donna, mi legaro.
Tempo non mi parea da far riparo
Contra colpi d’Amor: pero m’andai
Secur, senaa sospetto; onde I miei guai
Nel commune dolor s’incominiciaro

9. Petrarch Sonnet 3 Trovommi Amor del tutto disarmato
Et aperta la via per gli occhi al core,
Che di lagrime son fatti uscio et varco:
Pero al mio parer non li fu honore
Ferir me de saetta in quello stato,
A voi armata non mostrar pur l’arco.
Love discovered me all weaponless,
And opened the way to the heart through the eyes,
Which are made the passageways and doors of tears:
So that it seems to me it does him little honour
To wound me with his arrow, in that state,
He not showing his bow at all to you who are armed.

10. “London, 1802” - Wordsworth ABBAABBACDDECE
Milton! thou shouldst be living at this hour:
England hath need of thee: she is a fen
Of stagnant waters: altar, sword, and pen,
Fireside, the heroic wealth of hall and bower,
Have forfeited their ancient English dower
Of inward happiness. We are selfish men;
Oh! raise us up, return to us again;
And give us manners, virtue, freedom, power.
Thy soul was like a Star, and dwelt apart;
Thou hadst a voice whose sound was like the sea:
Pure as the naked heavens, majestic, free,
So didst thou travel on life's common way,
In cheerful godliness; and yet thy heart
The lowliest duties on herself did lay.

11. Edmund Spenser 1552ca-1599 B. London, England
Attended Cambridge and earned a master’s degree.
Spent most of his life in Ireland and his poetry was greatly influenced by his time there.
Apparently died in poverty.

12. Spenser - Major Works
The Faerie Queen, an epic poem that tells the stories of six knights, each of whom represent a moral virtue.
Amoretti, the only Renaissance sonnet sequence that celebrates a happy relationship that ends in marriage.

13. Spenserian Sonnets Still 14 lines Broken into 4 parts
3 quatrains
1 rhyming couplet
Also written in iambic pentameter
˘ / ˘ / ˘ / ˘ / ˘ /
My love is like to ice, and I to fire

14. Interlocking Rhyme Scheme
Spenserian sonnets are unique in the rhyme scheme.
Quatrain 1: a b a b
Quatrain 2: b c b c
Quatrain 3: c d c d
Rhyming Couplet: e e

15. Content
Each quatrain addresses the poem’s central idea, thought, or question.
The couplet provides an answer or a summation.
The volta occurs in line 13 at the beginning of the rhyming couplet.

16. Sonnet VII Fayre eyes! The myrrour of my mazed hart,B C D E
Fayre eyes! The myrrour of my mazed hart,
What wondrous vertue is contaynd in you,
The which both lyfe and death forth from you dart,
Into the object of your might view?
For, when ye mildly looke with lovely hew,
Then is my soule with life and love inspired:
But when ye lowre, or looke on me askew,
Then doe I die, as one with lightning fyred.
But, since that lyfe is more then death desyred,
Looke ever lovely, as becomes you best;
That your bright beams, of my weak eies admyred,
May kindle living fire within my brest.
Such life should be the honor of your light
Such death the sad ensample of your might.

17. William Shakespeare c. 1564-1616 b. Stratford-upon-Avon, England
Playwright, Poet, Actor
Most famous for his plays
All but 2 of his 154 sonnets were published in 1609

19. Shakespearean Sonnets
1609 Quarto only source of most 152 Shakespearean Sonnets.
There are 3 categories of poems in this Quarto:
1-126 are addressed to The Fair Youth
are addressed to The Dark Mistress
A Lover’s Complaint a 329 line poem written in Rhyme Royal

20. Shakespeare’s Addressees
The Fair Youth (sonnets 1-126)
An unnamed young man
Written to in loving and romantic language
Some suggest this may be a homosexual love, others find support that it is platonic, or father-son love
The Dark Lady (sonnets )
Given this name because of she is described as being dark haired
The sonnets written about her express infatuation and are more sexual in nature

21. Shakespearean Sonnet Form
Still 14 lines
Broken into 4 parts
3 quatrains
1 rhyming couplet
Written in iambic pentameter:
˘ / ˘ / ˘ / ˘ / ˘ /
Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?

22. Shakespearean Sonnet Form
Rhyme Scheme:
Quatrain 1: a b a b [introduces question]
Quatrain 2: c d c d [tentative
Quatrain 3: e f e f answers]
Rhyming Couplet: g g [final answer]
Volta:
The turn or transition in line 9 which marks a shift in focus or thought

23. Sonnet 18 ABAB CDCD 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 too short a date.
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimmed;
And every fair from fair sometimes declines,
By chance, or nature’s changing course untrimmed.

24. Sonnet 18 EFE F G But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest,
Nor shall Death brag thou wander’st in his shade
When in eternal lines to time thou grow’st.
So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
Sonnet 18
EFE F G

25. Sonnet 18 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 too short a date.
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimmed;
And every fair from fair sometimes declines,
By chance, or nature’s changing course untrimmed.
But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest,
Nor shall Death brag thou wander’st in his shade
When in eternal lines to time thou grow’st.
So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.