Introduction to Poetry Presentation
What is a Sonnet?
The word sonnet comes from the Italian word “sonetto” which means “little song”.
A sonnet has come to be known generally as a poem containing fourteen lines of iambic pentameter.
Traditionally, sonnets have been classified into groups based on the ryhme scheme. William Shakespeare wrote his sonnets to rhyme: abab cdcd efef gg. Sonnets which follow this rhyme scheme are called Shakespearean Sonnets. There are also Petrarchan and Spenserian Sonnets which are based on rhyme schemes used by Edmund Spenser and Francesco Petrarca respectively.
Sonnets also generally contain a volta, or turn. This is a subtle device used to distract the reader from the monotonous beat of the iambic pentameter. When you turn from a set direction while driving, you may only veer a little to the left or right. You may turn 90 degrees right or left. Or, you may do a 180 degree u-turn. Likewise, the volta may be a subtle shift or a complete reversal of direction. Writers have used various devices to indicate the turn as well as placing the turn in different places. The Shakespearean Sonnet generally places the volta after the eighth line.
Sonnet Types
The Petrarchan or Italian sonnet is named for the 14th century Italian poet Francesco Petrarch who popularized the sonnet form.
The petrarchan sonnet has a set rhyme scheme. The first eight lines, or octet, rhyme as follows:
abba abba
The last six lines, or sestet, can have various rhyme schemes.
The beginning of the sestet marks the volta, or turn in the sonnet. The sestet is often viewed as the solution to a problem posed in the octet.
A Shakespearean sonnet is written in iambic pentameter, which means that each line is 10 syllables long. The rhythm of each line should be like this:
soft-LOUD-soft-LOUD-soft-LOUD-soft-LOUD-soft-LOUD
All sonnets have fourteen lines. A Shakespearean sonnet rhymes like this:
Line 1 rhymes with line 3
Line 2 rhymes with line 4
Line 3 rhymes with line 1
Line 4 rhymes with line 2
Line 5 rhymes with line 7
Line 6 rhymes with line 8
Line 7 rhymes with line 5
Line 8 rhymes with line 6
Line 9 rhymes with line 11
Line 10 rhymes with line 12
Line 11 rhymes with line 9
Line 12 rhymes with line 10
Line 13 rhymes with line 14
Line 14 rhymes with line 13
Last, most sonnets have a volta, or a turning point. In a Shakespearean sonnet the volta usually begins at line 9.
An easy example of a turning point would be, lines 1-8 ask a question or series of questions and lines 9-14 answer the question or questions.
The Modern Sonnet
Although the traditional sonnet follows a strict form consisting of fourteen lines of iambic pentameter, many writers from the 20th century to the present day have sought to expand the sonnet form by “loosening” some of the requirements of the traditional sonnet.
These “modern sonnets” are typically still short, lyric poems in the spirit of the traditional sonnet. So, the name sonnet, which means “little song” can still be said to apply to them. However, not all short, lyric poems are sonnets, modern or traditional.
How then, do we identify the modern sonnet?
Generally, modern sonnet writers attempt to keep some of the traditional sonnet forms while abandoning others. The most common modern sonnet is a fourteen lined lyric poem that does not employ iambic pentameter or a set rhyme scheme.
Other modern sonnets might use ten or twelve lines of iambic pentameter instead of fourteen. Often these “shortened” sonnets will still follow a set rhyme scheme or contain a distinct volta.
Blank verse sonnets might also be considered modern. A blank verse sonnet employs iambic pentameter, but does not rhyme.
Courtesy of: http://www.sonnetwriters.com/definition-of-sonnet/
A sonnet has come to be known generally as a poem containing fourteen lines of iambic pentameter.
Traditionally, sonnets have been classified into groups based on the ryhme scheme. William Shakespeare wrote his sonnets to rhyme: abab cdcd efef gg. Sonnets which follow this rhyme scheme are called Shakespearean Sonnets. There are also Petrarchan and Spenserian Sonnets which are based on rhyme schemes used by Edmund Spenser and Francesco Petrarca respectively.
Sonnets also generally contain a volta, or turn. This is a subtle device used to distract the reader from the monotonous beat of the iambic pentameter. When you turn from a set direction while driving, you may only veer a little to the left or right. You may turn 90 degrees right or left. Or, you may do a 180 degree u-turn. Likewise, the volta may be a subtle shift or a complete reversal of direction. Writers have used various devices to indicate the turn as well as placing the turn in different places. The Shakespearean Sonnet generally places the volta after the eighth line.
Sonnet Types
The Petrarchan or Italian sonnet is named for the 14th century Italian poet Francesco Petrarch who popularized the sonnet form.
The petrarchan sonnet has a set rhyme scheme. The first eight lines, or octet, rhyme as follows:
abba abba
The last six lines, or sestet, can have various rhyme schemes.
The beginning of the sestet marks the volta, or turn in the sonnet. The sestet is often viewed as the solution to a problem posed in the octet.
A Shakespearean sonnet is written in iambic pentameter, which means that each line is 10 syllables long. The rhythm of each line should be like this:
soft-LOUD-soft-LOUD-soft-LOUD-soft-LOUD-soft-LOUD
All sonnets have fourteen lines. A Shakespearean sonnet rhymes like this:
Line 1 rhymes with line 3
Line 2 rhymes with line 4
Line 3 rhymes with line 1
Line 4 rhymes with line 2
Line 5 rhymes with line 7
Line 6 rhymes with line 8
Line 7 rhymes with line 5
Line 8 rhymes with line 6
Line 9 rhymes with line 11
Line 10 rhymes with line 12
Line 11 rhymes with line 9
Line 12 rhymes with line 10
Line 13 rhymes with line 14
Line 14 rhymes with line 13
Last, most sonnets have a volta, or a turning point. In a Shakespearean sonnet the volta usually begins at line 9.
An easy example of a turning point would be, lines 1-8 ask a question or series of questions and lines 9-14 answer the question or questions.
The Modern Sonnet
Although the traditional sonnet follows a strict form consisting of fourteen lines of iambic pentameter, many writers from the 20th century to the present day have sought to expand the sonnet form by “loosening” some of the requirements of the traditional sonnet.
These “modern sonnets” are typically still short, lyric poems in the spirit of the traditional sonnet. So, the name sonnet, which means “little song” can still be said to apply to them. However, not all short, lyric poems are sonnets, modern or traditional.
How then, do we identify the modern sonnet?
Generally, modern sonnet writers attempt to keep some of the traditional sonnet forms while abandoning others. The most common modern sonnet is a fourteen lined lyric poem that does not employ iambic pentameter or a set rhyme scheme.
Other modern sonnets might use ten or twelve lines of iambic pentameter instead of fourteen. Often these “shortened” sonnets will still follow a set rhyme scheme or contain a distinct volta.
Blank verse sonnets might also be considered modern. A blank verse sonnet employs iambic pentameter, but does not rhyme.
Courtesy of: http://www.sonnetwriters.com/definition-of-sonnet/
How-To: Write a Sonnet
The very thought of writing a sonnet may make you weary. I understand! However, as visual learners, there are always step-by-step guides to help you along the way. Follow each step of the video to create your own sonnet.
The culminating project for this learning unit will be to collaboratively create a Shakespearean sonnet that will be published and presented to the class (2 major grades!). More instructions will follow. Stay tuned!
The culminating project for this learning unit will be to collaboratively create a Shakespearean sonnet that will be published and presented to the class (2 major grades!). More instructions will follow. Stay tuned!
Ballads
Centuries-old in practice, the composition of ballads began in the European folk tradition, in many cases accompanied by musical instruments. Ballads were not originally transcribed, but rather preserved orally for generations, passed along through recitation. Their subject matter dealt with religious themes, love, tragedy, domestic crimes, and sometimes even political propaganda.
A typical ballad is a plot-driven song, with one or more characters hurriedly unfurling events leading to a dramatic conclusion. At best, a ballad does not tell the reader what’s happening, but rather shows the reader what’s happening, describing each crucial moment in the trail of events. To convey that sense of emotional urgency, the ballad is often constructed in quatrain stanzas, each line containing as few as three or four stresses and rhyming either the second and fourth lines, or all alternating lines.
Ballads began to make their way into print in fifteenth-century England. During the Renaissance, making and selling ballad broadsides became a popular practice, though these songs rarely earned the respect of artists because their authors, called “pot poets," often dwelled among the lower classes.
However, the form evolved into a writer’s sport. Nineteenth-century poets Samuel Taylor Coleridge and William Wordsworth wrote numerous ballads. Coleridge’s “Rime of the Ancient Mariner," the tale of a cursed sailor aboard a storm-tossed ship, is one of the English language’s most revered ballads. It begins:
It is an ancient mariner
And he stoppeth one of three.
—“By thy long grey beard and glittering eye,
Now wherefore stoppest thou me?
The bridegroom’s doors are opened wide,
And I am next of kin;
The guests are met, the feast is set:
Mayst hear the merry din.”
He holds him with his skinny hand,
“There was a ship," quoth he.
“Hold off! unhand me, grey-beard loon!”
Eftsoons his hand dropped he.
He holds him with his glittering eye--
The wedding-guest stood still,
And listens like a three-years’ child:
The mariner hath his will.
Other balladeers, including Thomas Percy and, later, W. B. Yeats, contributed to the English tradition. In America, the ballad evolved into folk songs such as “Casey Jones," the cowboy favorite “Streets of Laredo," and “John Henry.”
Courtesy Of: http://www.poets.org/poetsorg/text/poetic-form-ballad
A typical ballad is a plot-driven song, with one or more characters hurriedly unfurling events leading to a dramatic conclusion. At best, a ballad does not tell the reader what’s happening, but rather shows the reader what’s happening, describing each crucial moment in the trail of events. To convey that sense of emotional urgency, the ballad is often constructed in quatrain stanzas, each line containing as few as three or four stresses and rhyming either the second and fourth lines, or all alternating lines.
Ballads began to make their way into print in fifteenth-century England. During the Renaissance, making and selling ballad broadsides became a popular practice, though these songs rarely earned the respect of artists because their authors, called “pot poets," often dwelled among the lower classes.
However, the form evolved into a writer’s sport. Nineteenth-century poets Samuel Taylor Coleridge and William Wordsworth wrote numerous ballads. Coleridge’s “Rime of the Ancient Mariner," the tale of a cursed sailor aboard a storm-tossed ship, is one of the English language’s most revered ballads. It begins:
It is an ancient mariner
And he stoppeth one of three.
—“By thy long grey beard and glittering eye,
Now wherefore stoppest thou me?
The bridegroom’s doors are opened wide,
And I am next of kin;
The guests are met, the feast is set:
Mayst hear the merry din.”
He holds him with his skinny hand,
“There was a ship," quoth he.
“Hold off! unhand me, grey-beard loon!”
Eftsoons his hand dropped he.
He holds him with his glittering eye--
The wedding-guest stood still,
And listens like a three-years’ child:
The mariner hath his will.
Other balladeers, including Thomas Percy and, later, W. B. Yeats, contributed to the English tradition. In America, the ballad evolved into folk songs such as “Casey Jones," the cowboy favorite “Streets of Laredo," and “John Henry.”
Courtesy Of: http://www.poets.org/poetsorg/text/poetic-form-ballad