Sonnets
Petrarch, Spenser, and
Shakespeare
Francesco Petrarch
• 1304-1374
• B. Arezzo, Italy
• Poet, Scholar and
Humanist during the
Italian Renaissance
• His sonnets became
a model of poetic
form for all of
Europe
Petrarchan Sonnet Form
• Consists of two parts:
– Octave (8 lines)
• Introduces a problem or situation which leads to conflict
or doubt in the reader
• Introduced in the 1st quatrain and developed in the 2nd
quatrain
– Volta
• The turn, or transition, between the two main parts.
Found at the beginning of the Sestet.
– Sestet (6 lines)
• Comments on or proposes a solution to the problem put
forth in the Octave
Petrarchan Sonnet Form
• Written in Iambic Pentameter
– A 10 syllable line in which stresses
alternate and there were 5 stressed and 5
unstressed syllables in each line
– Stresses and caesuras are marked on the
Keats’ line below:
˘ / ˘ / ˘ / ˘ / ˘ /
To swell the gourd, and plump the ha- zel shells
Petrarchan Sonnet Form
• Sonnets have a strict rhyme scheme
• Octave: Only one option
– abbaabba
• Sestet: Many options in Petrarchan Sonnets
– cdcdcd
– cddcdc
– cdecde
– cdeced
– cdcedc
– cdedce
Petrarch Sonnet 3
Era il giorno ch’al sol si scoloraro It was on that day when the sun’s ray
Per la pieta del suo factore i rai, Was darkened in pity for its Maker
Quando i’ fui preso, et non me ne That I was captured, and did not
guardai, defend myself,
Che i be’ vostr’occhi, donna, mi Because your lovely eyes had bound
legaro. me, Lady.
Tempo non mi parea da far riparo It did not seem to me a time to guard
myself
Contra colpi d’Amor: pero m’andai
Against Love’s blows: so I went on
Secur, senaa sospetto; onde I miei
guai Confident, unsuspecting; from that, my
troubles
Nel commune dolor s’incominiciaro
Started, amongst the public sorrows.
Petrarch Sonnet 3
Trovommi Amor del tutto disarmato Love discovered me all weaponless,
Et aperta la via per gli occhi al core, And opened the way to the heart
Che di lagrime son fatti uscio et through the eyes,
varco: Which are made the passageways
and doors of tears:
Pero al mio parer non li fu honore So that it seems to me it does him
Ferir me de saetta in quello stato, little honour
A voi armata non mostrar pur l’arco. To wound me with his arrow, in that
state,
He not showing his bow at all to you
who are armed.
“London, 1802” - Wordsworth
A Milton! thou shouldst be living at this hour:
B England hath need of thee: she is a fen
B Of stagnant waters: altar, sword, and pen,
A Fireside, the heroic wealth of hall and bower,
A Have forfeited their ancient English dower
B Of inward happiness. We are selfish men;
B Oh! raise us up, return to us again;
A And give us manners, virtue, freedom, power.
C Thy soul was like a Star, and dwelt apart;
D Thou hadst a voice whose sound was like the sea:
D Pure as the naked heavens, majestic, free,
E So didst thou travel on life's common way,
C In cheerful godliness; and yet thy heart
E The lowliest duties on herself did lay.
Edmund Spenser
• 1552ca-1599
• B. London, England
• Attended Cambridge
and earned a master’s
degree.
• Spent most of his life in
Ireland and his poetry
was greatly influenced
by his time there.
• Apparently died in
poverty.
Spenser - Major Works
• The Faerie Queen, an epic poem that
tells the stories of six knights, each of
whom represent a moral virtue.
• Amoretti, the only Renaissance sonnet
sequence that celebrates a happy
relationship that ends in marriage.
Spenserian Sonnets
• Still 14 lines
• Broken into 4 parts
– 3 quatrains
– 1 rhyming couplet
• Also written in iambic pentameter
˘ / ˘ / ˘ / ˘ / ˘ /
My love is like to ice, and I to fire
Interlocking Rhyme Scheme
• Spenserian sonnets are unique in the
rhyme scheme.
• Quatrain 1: a b a b
• Quatrain 2: b c b c
• Quatrain 3: c d c d
• Rhyming Couplet: e e
Content
• Each quatrain addresses the poem’s
central idea, thought, or question.
• The couplet provides an answer or a
summation.
• The volta occurs in line 13 at the
beginning of the rhyming couplet.
A
Sonnet VII
Fayre eyes! The myrrour of my mazed hart,
B What wondrous vertue is contaynd in you,
A The which both lyfe and death forth from you dart,
B Into the object of your might view?
B For, when ye mildly looke with lovely hew,
C Then is my soule with life and love inspired:
B But when ye lowre, or looke on me askew,
C Then doe I die, as one with lightning fyred.
C But, since that lyfe is more then death desyred,
D Looke ever lovely, as becomes you best;
C That your bright beams, of my weak eies admyred,
D May kindle living fire within my brest.
E Such life should be the honor of your light
E Such death the sad ensample of your might.
William Shakespeare
• c. 1564-1616
• b. Stratford-upon-
Avon, England
• Playwright, Poet,
Actor
• Most famous for his
plays
• All but 2 of his 154
sonnets were
published in 1609
Shakespearean Sonnets
• 1609 Quarto only
source of most 152
Shakespearean
Sonnets.
• There are 3 categories
of poems in this Quarto:
– 1-126 are addressed to
The Fair Youth
– 127-152 are addressed
to The Dark Mistress
– A Lover’s Complaint a
329 line poem written in
Rhyme Royal
Shakespeare’s Addressees
• The Fair Youth (sonnets 1-126)
– An unnamed young man
– Written to in loving and romantic language
– Some suggest this may be a homosexual love,
others find support that it is platonic, or father-son
love
• The Dark Lady (sonnets 127-152)
– Given this name because of she is described as
being dark haired
– The sonnets written about her express infatuation
and are more sexual in nature
Shakespearean Sonnet Form
• Still 14 lines
• Broken into 4 parts
– 3 quatrains
– 1 rhyming couplet
• Written in iambic pentameter:
˘ / ˘ / ˘ / ˘ / ˘ /
Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
Shakespearean Sonnet Form
• Rhyme Scheme:
– Quatrain 1: a b a b [introduces question]
– Quatrain 2: c d c d [tentative
– Quatrain 3: e f e f answers]
– Rhyming Couplet: g g [final answer]
• Volta:
– The turn or transition in line 9 which marks
a shift in focus or thought
Sonnet 18
A Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
B Thou art more lovely and more temperate.
A Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
B And summer’s lease hath too short a date.
C Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
D And often is his gold complexion dimmed;
C And every fair from fair sometimes declines,
D By chance, or nature’s changing course
untrimmed.
Sonnet 18
E But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
F Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest,
E Nor shall Death brag thou wander’st in his
shade
F When in eternal lines to time thou grow’st.
G So long as men can breathe, or eyes can
see,
G So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
Sonnet 18
Sonnet 18
Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate.
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer’s lease hath too short a date.
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimmed;
And every fair from fair sometimes declines,
By chance, or nature’s changing course untrimmed.
But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest,
Nor shall Death brag thou wander’st in his shade
When in eternal lines to time thou grow’st.
So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.