Sonnets

//History//

 * Created in Italy by Petrarch to write a famous series of poems about his love for Laura
 * Wyatt introduced the form into English
 * Shakespeare adapted it for ease of use with the English language

Form

 * __Italian__ has two parts: Octave (eight line) Sestet (six line) with rhyme scheme of abba abba cde cde (with sestet varying)
 * The Octave is devoted to posing a problem
 * The Sestet resolves it
 * __Shakespearean__ has four parts: Quatrains (three groups of four lines) Couplet (one concluding group of two lines)
 * Rhyme scheme is abab cdcd efef gg
 * Provides a three part argument or three illustrations of the same point (Quatrains)
 * And a conclusion or comment on the point (Couplet)

//Meter//

 * English sonnets: five groups of syllables known as "feet"
 * "iamb" is commonly used which consists of one weak syllable followed by one strong syllable
 * There are five iambs in a line and the meter is called "iambic pentameter"

//Subject Matter//
Information from "How to Write a Sonnet"
 * Started out as love poetry
 * Shakespeare wrote and began to do parody and fun in sonnets
 * Post-Elizabethan poets use sonnet form for many subjects
 * Most develop ideas through metaphors and similies to describe intangible feelings by bringing to mind tangible images

=[|Sonnets to Analyze]=

=Sonnet E-Card Activity=