Sonnets/Spenserian Sonnets

Sonnets

What is a sonnet?

• For the Elizabethans, “sonnet” referred to any short poem

• Iambic pentameter = rhyme scheme– 14 lines

• Quatorzains

Iambic pentameter

˘ (breve) = unstressed syllable

/ (slash or ictus) = stressed syllable

Iambic foot: unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable

(heartbeat)

A line of iambic pentameter is five iambic feet in a row:

Renaissance Poetry

• Renaissance Era = 2 basic poetic forms–Lyric–Narrative

• 2 types of lyric poetry:–Pastorals–Sonnets

Sonnets• Sonnet

Sequence/Cycle:– Collection– Story, person/thing– Unrequited love

• Three types of sonnets:– Spenserian– Petrarchan– Shakespearian

Edmund Spenser

• 1552-1599• Working-class• Lived off poetry money• The Faerie Queene– Knightly adventures– Good vs. Evil– Dedicated to Queen Elizabeth

• Created own sonnet form

Spenserian Sonnets• 3 Quatrains (12 lines) + 1 Couplet (2 lines)

a b a bb c b cc d c d e e

One day I wrote her name upon the strand,But came the waves and washed it away;Again I wrote it with a second hand,But came the tide, and make my pains his

prey.

Format

• Basic situation: speaker in love, unfulfilled

• 3 Quatrains = 3 distinct but closely related ideas

• Couplet = different idea

• The volta, or turn, occurs when the line pattern changes and there is a shift in subject or tone.

Spenser: Sonnet 1

p. 240

What are we looking for?

• Rhyme scheme?• Addressed to what/whom?• Discussing what/whom?• Metaphor?• Feelings toward his love?

Happy ye leaves when as those lily hands,Which hold my life in their dead doing might,Shall handle you, and hold in love's soft

bands,Like captives trembling at the victor's sight.And happy lines! on which, with starry light,Those lamping eyes will deign sometimes to

look,And read the sorrows of my dying sprite,Written with tears in heart's close bleeding

book.And happy rhymes! bathed in the sacred

brookOf Helicon, whence she derived is,When ye behold that angel's blessed look,My soul's long lacked food, my heaven's bliss.Leaves, lines, and rhymes seek her to please

alone,Whom if ye please, I care for other none

What are we looking for?

• Rhyme scheme? True Spenserian• Addressed to what/whom? His poetry• Discussing what/whom? His

relationship with/love for a woman• Metaphor? Poet like the book…both

will be held by his love she holds his life in her hands

• Feelings toward his love? In awe of her, angelic, a muse- she inspires his writing