Sonnet Unit

1. Sonnet Unit

2. Petrarch – Father of the Sonnet Form

3. Term to know… • Sonnet Sequence = A Collection of Sonnets • The full Sonnet Sequence is usually named., • Each individual sonnet just numbered, or identified by its first line.

4. Petrarch’s Sonnet Sequence • Canzonieri – translates to “little love songs” • Petrarch writes One for each day of the leap year …the year of love • He addresses them to Laura.

5. One Little Love Song – Sonnet for each day of a Leap Year.366 in this Sonnet Sequence.

6. The Italian, Father of the Sonnet, Petrarch with his “Cruel Fair” Laura

7. “Cruel Fair” an appropriate oxymoron

9. Origin – Petrarch’s #169 Text p. 756 • Rapt in the one fond thought that makes me stray • From other men and walk this world alone • Sometimes I have escaped myself and flown • To seek the very one that I should flee; • So fair and fell I see her passing by • That the soul trembles to take flight again, • So many armed sighs are in her train, • This lovely foe to Love himself and me! • And yet upon that high and clouded brow • I seem to see a ray of pity shine, • Shedding some light across the grieving heart: • So I call back my soul, and when I vow, • At last to tell her of my hidden pain • I have so much to say I dare not start.

10. Origin – Petrarch’s #169 Text p. 756 • Rapt in the one fond thought that makes me stray • From other men and walk this world alone • Sometimes I have escaped myself and flown • To seek the very one that I should flee; • So fair and fell I see her passing by • That the soul trembles to take flight again, • So many armed sighs are in her train, • This lovely foe to Love himself and me! • And yet upon that high and clouded brow • I seem to see a ray of pity shine, • Shedding some light across the grieving heart: • So I call back my soul, and when I vow, • At last to tell her of my hidden pain • I have so much to say I dare not start.

11. NOMENCLATURETerminology • The next few slides are key to mastering the building blocks of sonnets. • Commit them to Memory

12. Specific Poetic Feet • Four typical feet are used. • Two syllables: • Iambs - /MacBETH i AMB • Trochees / - DUN can TRO chee • Three Syllable Poetic Feet: • Dactyls / - -FINger bone • Anapests - - / a na PEST

13. POETIC METERS – LINE LENGTHS • One foot: Monometer • Two feet: Dimeter • Three feet: Trimeter • Four feet: Tetrameter • Five feet: Pentameter • Six feet: Hexameter • Seven feet: Heptameter • Eight feet: Octameter

14. Nomenclature - Line Groupings • 2 Lines – Couplet (just a couple of lines) • 4 Lines – Quatrain (think of quarters) • 6 Lines – Sestet (Do not think – sextet) • 8 Lines - Octave (think of Octogon, octopus)

15. Styles of Sonnets - Structures • Italian Style – Petrarchian • Reads as a two part structure • Octave and a Sestet • Anticipate a Rhyme Scheme of: abbaabba cdecde • English Style – Elizabethan – Shakespearian • Reads as a 3 part thesis with a couplet as concusion. • Quatrain, Quatrain, Quatrain Couplet • Anticipate a Rhyme Scheme of: abab cdcd efef gg

16. Edmund Spenser – Prince of Poets

17. Edmund Spenser – His Masterpiece: The Faerie Queen – An Allegory

18. Spenser’s Sonnet SequenceAmoretti Little Love Poems

19. FYI but not on test: The Sonnet Sequence Amoretti describes Spenser’s courtship and eventual marriage to Elizabeth Boyle.Genre:   Amoretti is a sonnet sequence composed of 89 sonnets. By Spenser's time, the collection of sonnets loosely organized around a poet's love for a lady was becoming a commonplace achievement. Sidney's example, Astrophel and Stella, was published in 1591, five years after the poet's death, and even before that time it had been circulating unofficially among the poet's friends and relatives in manuscript form. Other sonnet cycle poets were Samuel Daniel (Delia, 1592), Michael Drayton (Idea, 1594 and 1619), Fulke Greville (Caelica, 1633), and, of course, William Shakespeare (Sonnets, 1609).

20. Sonnet XXVI-Edmund Spenser Sweet is the rose, but grows upon a briar;Sweet is the Juniper, but sharp his bough;Sweet is the eglantine, but pricketh near;Sweet is the fir bloom, but his branch is rough;Sweet is the cypress, but his rind is tough.Sweet is the nut, but bitter is his pill;Sweet is the broom flower, but yet sour enough;And sweet is moly, but his root is ill.So every sweet with sour is tempered still,That maketh is be coveted the more;For easy things that may be got at will,Most sorts of men do set but little store.Why then should I account of little pain,That endless pleasure shall unto me gain.

21. Sweet is the rose, but grows upon a briar;

22. Juniper & Eglantine Broom Flower & Moly

23. Edmund Spenser – A clear Octave and Sestet Sweet is the rose, but grows upon a briar;Sweet is the Juniper, but sharp his bough;Sweet is the eglantine, but pricketh near;Sweet is the fir bloom, but his branch is rough;Sweet is the cypress, but his rind is tough.Sweet is the nut, but bitter is his pill;Sweet is the broom flower, but yet sour enough;And sweet is moly, but his root is ill. So every sweet with sour is tempered still,That maketh is be coveted the more;For easy things that may be got at will,Most sorts of men do set but little store.Why then should I account of little pain,That endless pleasure shall unto me gain.

24. Which football victory is more satisfying… • A hard fought win over a rival • Slaughtering a weak team by 50 points. • Why?

25. Which football victory is more satisfying… • A hard fought win over a rival • Slaughtering a weak team by 50 points. • Why? For easy things that may be got at will, Most sorts of men do set but little store

26. What Style Sonnet is Spenser’s #26? • Italian / Petrarchian • An Octave and a Sestet • English/ Shakespearean/ Elizabethan • Quatrain, Quatrain, Quatrain, Couplet

27. Sonnet 75 – Edmund SpenserOne day I wrote her name upon the strand

28. One day I wrote her name upon the strand,

29. Sonnet 75 – Edmund Spenser 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 made my pains his prey. “Vain man,” said she, “that dost in vain assay, A mortal thing so to immortalize, For I myself shall like to this decay, And eke my name be wiped out likewise.” “Not so,” quod, I “let baser things devise To die in dust, but you shall live by fame: My verse your virtues rare shall eternize, And in the heavens write your glorious name. Where whenas death shall all the world subdue, Our love shall live, and later life renew.”

30. Sonnet 75 – Edmund Spenser One day I wrote her name upon the strand, a But came the waves and washed it away; b Again I wrote it with a second hand, a But came the tide, and made my pains his prey. b “Vain man,” said she, “that dost in vain assay, b A mortal thing so to immortalize, c For I myself shall like to this decay, b And eke my name be wiped out likewise.” c “Not so,” quod, I “let baser things devise c To die in dust, but you shall live by fame: d My verse your virtues rare shall eternize, c And in the heavens write your glorious name. d Where whenas death shall all the world subdue, e Our love shall live, and later life renew.” e

31. Spenser’s Sonnet 75 from Amoretti • Theme of Immortality Through Verse. • A very common theme of Elizabethan Poets

32. Sir Philip Sidney The Ideal Renaissance Man • Renaissance Man – Talented in all areas. • He’s the archetype. Courtier, Soldier, Poet

33. Sir Philip Sidney I Presume.

34. Sir Philip Sidney’s Sonnet SequenceAstrophel & StellaStarlover & Star

35. Sir Phillip Sidney - Astrophel an Stella FYI but not on test: Likely composed in the 1580s by Philip Sidney, Astrophel and Stella an English sonnet sequence containing 108 sonnets and 11 songs.The name derives from the two Greek words, 'aster' (star) and 'phil' (lover), and the Latin word 'stella' meaning star. Thus Astrophil is the star lover, and Stella is his star.

36. Sonnet 31 - -Sir Philip Sidney With how sad steps, Oh Moon, thou climb'st the skies! How silently, and with how wan a face! What, may it be that even in heavenly place That busy archer his sharp arrows tries? Sure, if that long-with-love- acquainted eyes Can judge of love, thou feel'st a lover's case I read it in thy looks;  thy languished grace, To me, that feel the like, thy state descries. Then, even of fellowship, Oh Moon, tell me, Is constant love deemed there but want of wit? Are beauties there as proud as here they be? Do they above love to be loved, and yet Those lovers scorn whom that love doth possess? Do they call virtue there, ungratefulness?  

38. Sonnet 31 - -Sir Philip Sidney With how sad steps, Oh Moon, thou climb'st the skies! How silently, and with how wan a face! What, may it be that even in heavenly place That busy archer his sharp arrows tries? Sure, if that long-with-love- acquainted eyes Can judge of love, thou feel'st a lover's case I read it in thy looks;  thy languished grace, To me, that feel the like, thy state descries. Then, even of fellowship, Oh Moon, tell me, Is constant love deemed there but want of wit? Are beauties there as proud as here they be? Do they above love to be loved, and yet Those lovers scorn whom that love doth possess? Do they call virtue there, ungratefulness?  

39. Sonnet 31 - -Sir Philip Sidney With how sad steps, Oh Moon, thou climb'st the skies! How silently, and with how wan a face! What, may it be that even in heavenly place That busy archer his sharp arrows tries? Sure, if that long-with-love- acquainted eyes Can judge of love, thou feel'st a lover's case I read it in thy looks;  thy languished grace, To me, that feel the like, thy state descries.Then, even of fellowship, Oh Moon, tell me, Is constant love deemed there but want of wit? Are beauties there as proud as here they be? Do they above love to be loved, and yet Those lovers scorn whom that love doth possess? Do they call virtue there, ungratefulness?  

40. Sonnet 31 - -Sir Philip Sidney With how sad steps, Oh Moon, thou climb'st the skies! How silently, and with how wan a face! What, may it be that even in heavenly place That busy archer his sharp arrows tries? Sure, if that long-with-love- acquainted eyes Can judge of love, thou feel'st a lover's case I read it in thy looks;  thy languished grace, To me, that feel the like, thy state descries. Then, even of fellowship, Oh Moon, tell me, Is constant love deemed there but want of wit? Are beauties there as proud as here they be? Do they above love to be loved, and yet Those lovers scorn whom that love doth possess? Do they call virtue there, ungratefulness?  

41. Sonnet 31 - -Sir Philip Sidney Do they above love to be loved, and yet Those lovers scorn whom that love doth possess? Do they call virtue there, ungratefulness?   Theme: The Cruel Fair. Strives to attain his love.. But once obtained … Rejects his advances.

42. Shakespeare – 154 Sonnets

43. Shakespeare did not intend to publish these...Probably composed when the theaters were shut down.Inspiration?A young man – his patron The dark lady – his mistressComposed 154 Sonnets

44. Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day Sonnet 18

45. Sonnet 18 --William Shakespeare 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 all too short a date. Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines, And often is his gold complexion dimmed; And every fair from fair sometime declines, By chance or nature's changing course untrimmed; But thy eternal summer shall not fade, Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st, Nor shall Death brag thou wand’rest 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.

46. Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? A Thou art more lovely and more temperate. B Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, A And summer's lease hath all too short a date. B Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines, C And often is his gold complexion dimmed; D And every fair from fair sometime declines, C By chance or nature's changing course untrimmed; D But thy eternal summer shall not fade, E Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st, F Nor shall Death brag thou wand’rest in his shade, E When in eternal lines to time thou grow’st. F So long as men can breathe or eyes can see, G So long lives this, and this gives life to thee. G

47. Sonnet 29William Shakespeare

48. Sonnet 29 - - William Shakespeare When, in disgrace with Fortune and _______eyes, I all alone beweep my _________state, And trouble ________heaven with my bootless cries, And look upon myself and _________ my fate, __________ me like to one more rich in hope, Featured like him, like him with __________ possessed, Desiring this man's art and that man's scope, With what I most enjoy contented least ; Yet in these thoughts myself almost_____________, Haply I think on thee, and then my state, Like to the lark at break of day arising From sullen earth, sings _________ at heaven's gate; For thy sweet love rememb’redsuch wealth________, That then I scorn to change my state with kings.

49. Sonnet 29 - - William Shakespeare When, in disgrace with Fortune and men's eyes, I all alone beweep my outcaststate, And trouble deafheaven with my bootless cries, And look upon myself and curse my fate, Wishing me like to one more rich in hope, Featured like him, like him with friendspossessed, Desiring this man's art and that man's scope, With what I most enjoy contented least; Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising, Haply I think on thee, and then my state, Like to the lark at break of day arising From sullen earth, sings hymns at heaven's gate; For thy sweet love rememb’redsuch wealth brings, That then I scorn to change my state with kings.

50. Wishing me like to one more rich in hope, Featured like him, like him with friends possessed,