1 Sonnet Study Essential Vocabulary “The vessel, the sonnet form, actually becomes a part of the meaning of the poem.” Thomas C. Foster Sonnet Types: • Italian/Petrarchan • English/Shakespearean • Spenserian • Alternative/blank Anatomy of a Sonnet: [closed form] – 14 Lines (140 syllables) typically divided into two “units” • couplet • quatrain • sestet • octave • rhetorical shift/turn/volta Rhyme Patterns: Note – the Italian language is more rich in rhyme than the English language which accounts for the adjusted rhyme pattern. • Italian – abba abba cdecde [sestet can be many variations] • English – abab cdcd efef gg • Spenserian – abab bcbc cdcd ee [interlocking rhyme with internal couplets] • Other variations also apply including the blank sonnet which has no pattern of end rhyme. • Other rhyme vocabulary: end rhyme, internal rhyme, slant rhyme, eye rhyme, masculine rhyme, feminine rhyme Rhythm: • iambic pentameter [rising meter] unstressed-stressed unit • foot • iamb [unstressed followed by stressed, example: to-dáy] Elizabeth Davis – Westwood High School 2 ESSENTIAL VOCABULARY CONTINUED: Poetic and Rhetorical Devices: ** You will likely find more devices than what is listed here and you may add them as you see them.** • theme • tone(s) • point of view • irony • imagery • connotation/denotation • details • syntax [sentence structure] • enjambment • repetition • elision • apostrophe • paradox • oxymoron • pun Poetic and Rhetorical Devices (continued): • figurative language: o conceit/extended metaphor o metaphor o simile o personification o metonymy o synecdoche o hyperbole o litotes • sound devices: o alliteration o assonance o consonance o onomatopoeia o cacophony / euphony Elizabeth Davis – Westwood High School 3 RHYME AND SONNET TYPE – Unlocking the “cheat codes” What most readers learn first about poetry is the pleasure that comes from hearing rhymes. From our first Dr. Seuss experiences – “Would you eat them in a box? Would you eat them with a ____?” -- to most of the songs we listen to on the radio, we are programmed to appreciate the aesthetics of poetry. The different sonnet forms have prescribed rhyme schemes that can be quite complicated. Also worth noting is the fact that the rhyming words at the end of the lines often contain Key concepts that help the reader unlocK meaning. To marK a rhyme scheme, the reader assigns a letter to each sound. The final syllable of the first line is given the label “a”, then the reader looKs at the end of the other lines and assigns an “a” to any that rhyme with the first line. Once done, the reader returns to the second line. If it is not marKed (it typically does not rhyme with line one), then that syllable is assigned the letter “b.” The process repeats until all lines are marKed. Complete the following rhyme scheme notations. Sonnet 116 by William Shakespeare (1564-1616) 1 Let me not to the marriage of true minds _____ Admit impediments. Love is not love _____ Which alters when it alteration finds, _____ Or bends with the remover to remove: _____ 5 O no; it is an ever-fixed mark, _____ That looks on tempests, and is never shaken; _____ It is the star to every wandering bark, _____ Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken. _____ Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks _____ 10 Within his bending sickle's compass come; _____ Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks, _____ But bears it out even to the edge of doom. _____ If this be error, and upon me prov'd, _____ I never writ, nor no man ever lov'd. _____ Elizabeth Davis – Westwood High School 4 RHYME LESSON CONTINUED LooK bacK over the rhyming words in this poem and identify examples of each of the following. Device of Rhyme Line Numbers Words Masculine rhyme 1/3; minds/finds; Feminine rhyme Slant rhyme Eye rhyme Internal rhyme Elizabeth Davis – Westwood High School 5 SONNET TYPE- Understanding the poem’s “units” of meaning Italian Sonnet Units English Sonnet Units Spenserian Sonnet Units Octave (abba abba) Three quatrains Three quatrains Sestet (cdecde, or cdcdcd, or (abab cdcd efef) (abab bcbc cdcd) cdcdee) Concluding couplet (gg) Concluding couplet (ee) For each of the following sonnets, marK the units of division and identify the sonnet type. “Whoso List to Hunt” by Sir Thomas Wyatt (1503-1542) Sonnet 18 by William Shakespeare (1564-1616) Whoso list to hunt, I know where is an hind, But as for me, alas, I may no more; Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? The vain travail hath wearied me so sore, Thou art more lovely and more temperate: I am of them that furthest come behind. Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, Yet may I by no means my wearied mind And summer's lease hath all too short a date: Draw from the deer, but as she fleeth afore Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines, Fainting I follow; I leave off therefore, And often is his gold complexion dimm'd; Since in a net I seek to hold the wind. And every fair from fair sometime declines, Who list her hunt, I put him out of doubt, By chance, or nature's changing course, untrimm'd; As well as I, may spend his time in vain. But thy eternal summer shall not fade, And graven with diamonds in letters plain, Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest; There is written her fair neck round about, Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade, "Noli me tangere, for Caesar's I am, When in eternal lines to time thou growest; And wild for to hold, though I seem tame." So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see, So long lives this, and this gives life to thee. Elizabeth Davis – Westwood High School 6 STEP 5 LESSON- SONNET TYPE CONTINUED: One Day I Wrote Her Name Upon the Strand by Edmund Spenser (1552-1599) One day I wrote her name upon the strand, But came the waves and washed it away: Again I wrote it with a second hand, But came the tide, and made my pains his prey. Vain man, said she, that dost in vain assay A mortal thing so to immortalize! For I myself shall like to this decay, And eek my name be wiped out likewise. Not so (quoth I), let baser things devise To die in dust, but you shall live by fame: My verse your virtues rare shall eternize, And in the heavens write your glorious name; Where, whenas death shall all the world subdue, Our love shall live, and later life renew. Elizabeth Davis – Westwood High School 7 METER – Recognizing and analyzing the poet’s metrical choices Each line of a sonnet is composed of five iambs (a unit of unstressed –stressed syllables), or a total of 10 syllables. However, on many occasions, a poet will need to be creative or combine syllables in a word to Keep the meter sound. When a syllable is combined with another or even omitted, it is called an elision. For example, the word “over”, a two- syllable word can be adapted to the word “o’er” a one-syllable word for poetic purposes. For many, marKing the rhythm is the most difficult part of the analysis process, and, admittedly, it is not as crucial as other steps in this project. However, the discerning student will looK at the poem from all angles and learn as much as he/she can. A poet may wish to create an irregular meter for emphasis, and it is this very detail that could cause the reader to notice a Key concept. For the following 2 poems, marK the meter including foot divisions. Note any lines that are irregular Holy Baptism by George Herbert (1593-1633) As he that sees a dark and shady grove, Stays not, but looks beyond it on the sky So when I view my sins, mine eyes remove More backward still, and to that water fly, Which is above the heav'ns, whose spring and rent Is in my dear Redeemer's pierced side. O blessed streams! either ye do prevent And stop our sins from growing thick and wide, Or else give tears to drown them, as they grow. In you Redemption measures all my time, And spreads the plaster equal to the crime: You taught the book of life my name, that so, Whatever future sins should me miscall, Your first acquaintance might discredit all. Elizabeth Davis – Westwood High School 8 METER CONTINUED Loving in Truth by Sir Philip Sidney (1554-1586) Loving in truth, and fain in verse my love to show, That the dear she might take some pleasure of my pain, Pleasure might cause her read, reading might make her know, Knowledge might pity win, and pity grace obtain, I sought fit words to paint the blackest face of woe: Studying inventions fine, her wits to entertain, Oft turning others' leaves, to see if thence would flow Some fresh and fruitful showers upon my sunburned brain. But words came halting forth, wanting Invention's stay; Invention, Nature's child, fled stepdame Study's blows; And others' feet still seemed but strangers in my way. Thus, great with child to speak, and helpless in my throes, Biting my truant pen, beating myself for spite: "Fool," said my Muse to me, "look in thy heart, and write." [hint: this “sonnet” is not written in pentameter] Elizabeth Davis – Westwood High School 9 DICTION – Understanding and analyzing an author’s word choices Sonneteers have only 140 syllables to establish a situation and convey meaning; therefore, every word counts. The reader must attend to every word carefully considering multiple meanings of words, looKing for patterns of diction, and noting contrasts and repetition.