Sonnets

What are Sonnets?

•Sonnets are lyrical poem of single stanza of fourteen Iambic pentameter lines, linked by an intricate rhyme scheme.

Lyrical poem: A short poem by a single speaker expressing a state of mind, or a process of perception, thought and feeling.

Rhyme scheme: In English verse, a standard rhyme consists of the repetition, in the rhyming words of the last stressed vowel and all of speech –sounds.

Iambic Pentameter (Abrams)

•1. Iambic  (the noun iamb): unstressed syllable followed by stressed syllable

•

•Example: The cur │few tolls│ the knell│ of par│ting day.

•Iambic pentameter

Meter: it is the recurrence, in regular units, of a prominent feature in the sequence

  of speech-sounds of a language.

What are Sonnets?

•Sonnet was derived from the Italian word Sonetto meaning little sound or song

•It is stylized 14 line poem developed during the Middle ages

•Sonnets are lyrical poem of single stanza of fourteen Iambic pentameter lines linked by an intricate rhyme scheme.

•Sonnets were brought to England by Sir Thomas Wyatt and Henry Howard, earl of Surrey in the 16th century.

•The sonnet traditionally reflects upon a single sentiment with a clarification or “turn” of thought in the concluding lines.

•The first octave forms a question or a problem and the sestet resolves this problem.

•In Shakespearian and Spenserian Sonnets the sonnet forms has 3 Quatrains and a couplet.

• The themes of love, politics, religion can be seen in the sonnets but the most popular one is love.

Different types of sonnets

There are two major patterns of sonnets:

•The Italian or Petrarchan sonnet

•The English or the Shakespearean sonnets

The Italian or Petrarchan sonnet

•This sonnet is named after the Italian poet  Petrarch

•This sonnet has two sections/parts: an octave (eight lines) and a sestet (six lines)

•The rhyme scheme is usually ABBAABBA followed by CDECDE or other variants like cdccdc

•Petrarch’s sonnets was first imitated in England in stanza form and their subject

The English or the Shakespearean sonnets

•The Earl of Surrey and other English  experimenters in the 16th century developed a stanza form called the English Sonnets or Shakespearean sonnets.

•The sonnet falls into three quatrains and a concluding couplet.

• The rhyme scheme is ABAB CDCD EFEF GG.

•A notable variant is the Spenserian sonnet where each  quatrain is linked to the next by a continuing rhyme.

Type of sonnet structure

•Petrarchan Sonnet (perfected by Italian poet Petrarch)

•In the Petrarchan sonnet, the 14 lines are divided into two sections

•An eight-line stanza(octave) rhymes ABBAABBA

•While the remaining six-stanza (sestet) rhymes CDCDCD or CDEEDE

Examples of Petrarchan Sonnets are:

1.John Milton’s  When I Consider How my Light is spent

2.Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s How Do I Love Thee

The English/ Shakespearean Sonnet

•The English Sonnet or the Shakespearean Sonnet was developed by Wyatt and Surrey

•In this sonnet, the 14 lines are condensed into one stanza of three quatrains and a concluding couplet (A pair of successive rhyming lines, usually of the same length)

•The rhyming scheme is ABABCDCDEFEFGG (though poets have frequently varied the scheme)

•Examples include 

Wilfred Owen’s Anthem for Doomed youth 

George Herbert’s Love II 

Claude Mckay’s America,

Molly Peacock’s Altruism

The Spenserian Sonnet

•Spenserian sonnets has 3 Quartrains and a couplet

•The rhyme scheme is ABAB  BCBC CDCD EE

Source

•Primary source: M.H Abrams, A glossary of literary terms, 7th edition