by Michelle Mclean

Created on: March 06, 2009

Ah, is there anything more romantic than a sonnet? Sonnets are fairly easy, structure-wise that is. Don't worry; we'll keep it simple. Trying to convey the emotion and message that you want to get across is a lot harder than it looks when you have to stick to a structured set of rules. But it is such a joy when you finally get it right!

First of all, there are two types of sonnets; Petrarchan (or Italian) and Shakespearean. How are they different?

Petrarchan:

Elements:

1. Fourteen lines usually iambic pentameter (meaning the 10 syllables that follow an unstressed/stressed pattern).

2. This type of sonnet has an octave (eight lines) and a sestet (six lines).

3. The rhyme scheme of the octave is abbaabba. The sestet has several variations, including: cddcdd or cdecde or cdcdcd or cdcdee or cdccdc.

4. The content of the octave is usually a kind of set-up, the opening statement or argument, the part that presents the problem, the desire, the question, the conflict, the reflection, etc. Typically, the first four lines (or quatrain) present the theme, and the second quatrain further develops this.

5. The sestet is the wrap-up, the resolution, the solution, the comment about what was said in the octave. This is heralded by the volta
(the turn, change in tone, imagery or theme), usually occurring at the ninth line of the sonnet.

Example:

From the Dark Tower (To Charles S.
Johnson)

by: Countee Cullen

We shall not always plant while others reap (a)

The golden increment of bursting fruit, (b)

Not always countenance, abject and mute, (b)

That lesser men should hold their brothers cheap; (a) (These four lines present the "problem")

Not everlastingly while others sleep (a)

Shall we beguile their limbs with mellow flute, (b)

Not always bend to some more subtle brute; (b)

We were not made to eternally weep. (a) (These further develop the theme)

The night whose sable breast relieves the stark, (c) (Change of tone, beginning of resolution, the volta)

White stars is no less lovely being dark, (c)

And there are buds that cannot bloom at all (d)

In light, but crumple, piteous, and fall; (d)

So in the dark we hide the heart that bleeds, (e)

And wait, and tend our agonizing seeds. (e) (conflict that was introduced is resolved)

If you know a little about Countee Cullen, specifically that he was a black man that lived from 1903-1946, the meaning of the poem is easy to determine. The octave (the first eight lines) show the problem, the opening statement. The sestet (the last six lines) show the resolution, the

• 1
• 2
• Next Page >>