1. Sonnets The Rise of a New Poetic Form

2. By definition  14-lines  Lyric (about thoughts & feelings)  A single theme (often romantic love or religion)  Has a set rhyme scheme  Usually in iambic pentameter

3. Three Forms  Italian (a.k.a. Petrarchan)  Spenserian  English (a.k.a. Shakespearean)

4. The Italian Sonnet  Also called a Petrarchan sonnet, after the Italian poet Francesco Petrarca  Thoughts within the sonnet are organized into an octave and a sestet.  The octave and sestet must work together in order for the sonnet to have a single theme.

5. Octave’s Function  Raise a question  State a problem  Present a brief narrative

6. Sestet’s Function  Answer the question  Solve the problem  Comment on the narrative

7. Italian Rhyme Scheme  Typically: abbaabba cdecde  Sometimes: abbaabba cdcdee  Or: abbaabba cdc dcd

8. Voi ch'ascoltate in rime sparse il suono di quei sospiri ond'io nudriva 'l core in sul mio primo giovenile errore quand'era in parte altr'uom da quel ch'i' sono, del vario stile in ch'io piango et ragiono fra le vane speranze e 'l van dolore, ove sia chi per prova intenda amore, spero trovar pietà, nonché perdono. Ma ben veggio or sí come al popol tutto favola fui gran tempo, onde sovente di me mesdesmo meco mi vergogno; et del mio vaneggiar vergogna è 'l frutto, e 'l pentersi, e 'l conoscer chiaramente che quanto piace al mondo è breve sogno.

9. The Spenserian Sonnet  Named for English poet Edmund Spenser  Maintained much of the structure of the Italian or Petrarchan sonnet including using an octave and sestet  No break between the octave and sestet  Rhyme scheme: ababbcbc cdcdee

10. Magnificke Lord, whose vertues excellent Doe merit a most famous Poets witt, To be thy liuing praises instrument, Yet doe not sdeigne, to let thy name be writt In this base Poeme, for thee far vnfitt. Nought is thy worth disparaged thereby, But when my Muse, whose fethers nothing flitt Doe yet but flagg, and lowly learne to fly With bolder wing shall dare alofte to sty To the last praises of this Faery Queene, Then shall it make more famous memory Of thine Heroicke parts, such as they beene: Till then vouchsafe thy noble countenaunce, To these first labours needed furtheraunce.

11. The English Sonnet  Also called Shakespearean because Shakespeare was its greatest master  Organized into 3 quatrains and a couplet  Each quatrain presents a different variation on the same theme  The rhyming couplet at the end presents a summarizing or concluding statement  Rhyme scheme: ababcdcdefefgg

12. 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: Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines, And often is his gold complexion dimmed, And every fair from fair sometime declines, By chance, or nature's changing course untrimmed: But thy eternal summer shall not fade, Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st, 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.

13. Sonnet Sequences  A sonnet sequence is a series or group of sonnets written to one person or on one theme (can also be combined to tell a story).  Each sonnet can also stand alone, but the sequence allows the poet to trace the development of a relationship or examine different aspects of a single subject.  Sonnets are numbered instead of titled.

14. Famous Examples  Astrophel and Stella by Sir Philip Sidney  Amoretti by Edmund Spenser  Sonnets to Laura by Francesco Petrarca