Some things to know before reading Romeo

and Juliet…

Sonnets are 14-line poems that were popular in Shakespeare’s

time. The word means, roughly, ‘little song’. In Romeo and Juliet,
the Chorus speaks using Sonnets. Be on the look out for other
sonnets that creep into the play!
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.
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.

(2.2.2-6)