Shakespeare’s Sonnets

General Background Shakespeare wrote 154 sonnets Mostly written from 1592 to 1598 First published in 1609

English Style Sonnet Written in iambic pentameter A sonnet line consists of ten syllables

divided into five pairs called iambs or iambic feet.

Iamb is a metrical unit made up of one unstressed followed by one stressed syllable.

An example good BYE

Examples baBOOM/ baBOOM/ baBOOM/ baBOOM/baBOOM

When I/ do COUNT/ the CLOCK / that TELLS/ the TIME

When IN/ disGRACE/with FOR/tune AND/ men’s EYES Shall I/ comPARE/ the TO / a SUM/mer’s DAY?

Sonnet Structure 14 lines in a Shakespearean sonnet First 12 divided into three quatrains with

four lines each First three quatrains the poet establishes a

theme or problem Resolves in the final two lines called the

couplet.

Rhyme Scheme Quatrains abab cdcd efef The couplet is gg