McKee English 11

Lyric Poetry: The Sonnet

Sonnets are 14-line poems that were popular in

Shakespeare’s time. The word means, roughly, ‘little song’.
But Shaksepeare wasn’t the only one to write using the
Sonnet form…
Basically, in a sonnet, the writer shows two related but differing
things to the reader in order to communicate something about them.
Each of the three major types of sonnets accomplishes this in a
somewhat different way. There are, of course, other types of sonnets,
as well, but the basic three are Italian, Spenserian, and English.

• Italian, or Petrarchan Sonnets – The Italian Sonnet has two

parts: the octave (the first 8 lines) and the sestet (the last 6 lines),
each with its own rhyme scheme. Traditionally the change in rhyme
signals a ‘turn’ or change in the poem.

• Spenserian Sonnet – form invented by a near contemporary of

Shakespeare, Edmund Spencer. This sonnet is a blend of both
Italian (similar ‘turn’ moment) and English (similar pattern) Sonnets.

• English, or Shakespearean Sonnet - The English sonnet,

popularized by Shakespeare, has the simplest and most flexible
pattern of all sonnets, consisting of 3 quatrains of alternating rhyme
and a couplet:

abab
cdcd
efef
gg

Iambic Pentameter is not a scary word. I promise.

It is a rhyming scheme of the heart, literally. It consists of an unstressed

syllable followed by a stressed syllable, like the rhythm of your heartbeat,
and repeated 10 times in a line.

But, soft, what light through yon-der win-dow breaks?

It is the east, and Jul-iet is the sun.
McKee English 11

A-rise, fair sun, and kill the en-vious moon,

Who is al-read-y sick and pale with grief
That thou her maid art far more fair than she.

Romeo and Juliet (2.2.2-6)