Wiki Assignment

 

11/19/2009

 

#1 Choose a Sonnet to explore

 

     Must be one by Shakespeare

     Recopy it on your handout from yesterday

     Reword it for your own understanding

 

#2 Research the form

 

     Use your Sonnet Vocab to find examples of each term (Find one example from nternet research and type it out with the term and the definition.

 

shakespearean sonnet

spenserian sonnet

italian sonnet

couplet

heroic couplet

quatrain

sestet

octave

iamb

–     Stressed    

˘     Unstressed

meter

foot

iambic pentameter

metrical foot

 

Writing a Sonnet

Goal: Learn to write a sonnet in iambic pentameter, just like Shakespeare did. Discover the rhythm and rhyme scheme of the quatrains and couplets that make up a Shakespearean sonnet.

#3 Here are the rules:

    * It must consist of 14 lines.

    * It must be written in iambic pentameter (duh-DUH-duh-DUH-duh-DUH-duh-DUH-duh-DUH).

    * It must be written in one of various standard rhyme schemes.

If you're writing the most familiar kind of sonnet, the Shakespearean, the rhyme scheme is this:

A-B-A-B-C-D-C-D-E-F-E-F-G-G

Every A rhymes with every A, every B rhymes with every B, and so forth. You'll notice this type of sonnet consists of three quatrains (that is, four consecutive lines of verse that make up a stanza or division of lines in a poem) and one couplet (two consecutive rhyming lines of verse).

Ah, but there's more to a sonnet than just the structure of it. A sonnet is also an argument — it builds up a certain way. And how it builds up is related to its metaphors and how it moves from one metaphor to the next. In a Shakespearean sonnet, the argument builds up like this:

    * First quatrain: An exposition (introduction) of the main theme and main metaphor.

    * Second quatrain: Theme and metaphor extended or complicated; often, some imaginative example is given.

    * Third quatrain: Peripeteia (a twist or conflict), often introduced by a "but" (very often leading off the ninth line).

Couplet: Summarizes and leaves the reader with a new, concluding image.

One of Shakespeare's best-known sonnets, Sonnet 18, follows this pattern: (THIS IS THE ONE YOU HAVE)

1   Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?

2   Thou art more lovely and more temperate.

3   Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,

4   And summer's lease hath all too short a date.

5   Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,

6   And often is his gold complexion dimmed;

7   And every fair from fair sometime declines,

8   By chance, or nature's changing course, untrimmed;

9   But thy eternal summer shall not fade,

10 Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest,

11 Nor shall death brag thou wanderest in his shade,

12 When in eternal lines to time thou growest.

13    So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,

14    So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

The argument of Sonnet 18 goes like this:

    * First quatrain: Shakespeare establishes the theme of comparing "thou" (or "you") to a summer's day, and why to do so is a bad idea. The metaphor is made by comparing his beloved to summer itself.

    * Second quatrain: Shakespeare extends the theme, explaining why even the sun, supposed to be so great, gets obscured sometimes, and why everything that's beautiful decays from beauty sooner or later. He has shifted the metaphor: In the first quatrain, it was "summer" in general, and now he's comparing the sun and "every fair," every beautiful thing, to his beloved.

    * Third quatrain: Here the argument takes a big left turn with the familiar "But." Shakespeare says that the main reason he won't compare his beloved to summer is that summer dies — but she won't. He refers to the first two quatrains — her "eternal summer" won't fade, and she won't "lose possession" of the "fair" (the beauty) she possesses. So he keeps the metaphors going, but in a different direction. And for good measure, he throws in a negative version of all the sunshine in this poem — the "shade" of death, which, evidently, his beloved won't have to worry about.

    * Couplet: How is his beloved going to escape death? In Shakespeare's poetry, which will keep her alive as long as people breathe or see. This bold statement gives closure to the whole argument — it's a surprise.

And so far, Shakespeare's sonnet has done what he promised it would! See how tightly this sonnet is written, how complex yet well organized it is? Try writing a sonnet of your own.

Poets are attracted by the grace, concentration, and, yes, the sheer difficulty of sonnets. You may never write another sonnet in your life, but this exercise is more than just busywork. It does all the following:

    * Shows you how much you can pack into a short form.

    * Gives you practice with rhyme, meter, structure, metaphor, and argument.

    * Connects you with one of the oldest traditions in English poetry — one still vital today.

 As you begin you may want to make some notes below to help you brainstorm your ideas and direction:  

What is your topic? (Love, death, war, peace, the family dog, etc...)

What images do you want to utilize?

What metaphor do you want to use? (what comparison do you want to make?)

What is the problem?

What is the solution to your problem?

How can you sum it up?

This is similar to what I want you to do for your sonnet (the one you choose)

1)Type it out in correct format

2)Draw a picture or use clip art to visualize your sonnet

3)Print it out, mount on a piece of construction paper.

4)Summarize it on the back (Explain the sonnet)

5)Make sure your name is on the back and you have signed the front and date it.