The SonnetAdapted from

PBS.org, Cliffs notes, Ms. Hurt, McDougal Littell’s The Language of Literature: British Literature

History of the Sonnet

• Invented by Italian poet Francesco Petrarch in 1327; smitten with Laura.

• Petrarch expressed his unrequited

love for this woman in his sonnets.

• The Italian sonnet is usually referred to as the Petrarchan sonnet.

The Petrarchan Sonnet consists of…

• an octave (8 lines) that tells a story, introduces a situation, or raises a question.

• A sestet (6 lines) that comment on the story, situation or question.

• Rhyme scheme: ABBA ABBA CDE CDE

The English Sonnet

• Sir Thomas Wyatt and Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, introduced the form sonnet into England.

• Sir Philip Sidney, Edmund Spenser, John Donne and John Milton wrote sonnets.

• William Shakespeare perfected it.

The English or Shakespearean Sonnet is

A poem written in iambic pentameter

With 3 quatrains and 1 couplet

Rhyme scheme: ABAB CDCD EFEF GG

The Quatrain

Four rhyming lines (ABAB) of poetry

First quatrain reflects theme of sonnet; introduces situation

Second and third quatrains develop, vary or expand the theme. A turn sometimes occurs in the third quatrain.

The Couplet

Two rhyming lines (GG) of poetry

Either summarizes the previous 12 lines,

provides a resolution, a turn or shift in

thought, or

Presents a surprise ending (Reversal)

Themes of a sonnet

Love: unrequited, desperate, eternal or tragic

Praise of BeautyOld AgeConformityGaining Immortality through the poemLife Like a Play

What have you learned?

History of sonnetOctaveSestet QuatrainCoupletRhyme SchemeThemes of sonnet

Now, You Practice!

Textbook: pages 303 and 309Shakespeare’s “Sonnet 29 and

Petrarch’s Sonnet 169Identify the following: rhyme scheme,

octave, sestet, quatrain, couplet.Identify the theme of the sonnet and the

poet’s resolution or comment.State your opinion of poem’s message.