Elizabethan Poetry Sonnets

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Elizabethan PoetrySonnets
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Sonnet

• 14 line lyric poem with a single theme
• Written (mostly) in iambic pentameter
• 3 types
• Italian or Petrarchan Sonnet
• English or Shakespearean Sonnet
• Spenserian Sonnet

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Italian or Petrarchan Sonnet

• 1 Octave
• 1 Sestet
• Octave often presents problem and sestet answers
  it

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Italian or Petrarchan Sonnet

• a
• b
• b
• a
• a
• b
• b
• a

• c
• d
• e
• c
• d
• e

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Italian or Petrarchan Sonnet

• Variations
• abababab (alternative octave)
• cdcdcd (alternative sestet)

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Italian or Petrarchan Sonnet

• Volta
• An Italian word meaning turn
• The volta is the shift between the octave and the
  sestet, often indicating a point of dramatic
  change.

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Spenserian Sonnet

• Spenserian
• 3 quatrains
• couplet
• Sonnet sequence- sonnets are linked by theme or
  person addressed.

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Spenserian Sonnet

• a
• b
• a
• b
• b
• c
• b
• c

• c
• d
• c
• d
• e
• e

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English or Shakespearean Sonnet

• 3 Quatrains
• 1 Couplet (often functions as the moral of the
  sonnet)
• Builds on or varies his theme from quatrain to
  quatrain, using couplet for dramatic statement.
• Uses the first 12 lines to present the problem
  and the last couplet to solve or restate it.

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English or Shakespearean Sonnet

• a
• b
• a
• b
• c
• d
• c
• d

• e
• f
• e
• f
• g
• g

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Elizabethan Poetry

• Favored lyric poems rather than narrative.
• Poetry became more sophisticated. Focused more
  on feeling description.
• Sonnet cycle a series of sonnets that loosely
  fit together to form a story.
• Spencer Sidney Spenserian Petrarchan
• Shakespeare adapted sonnets to Italian form
  through structure and form.