English Sonnet

The English Sonnet is a love poem

It's 14 lines

It is written in Iambic Pentameter

And it has the rhyme scheme below 

I. The English (or Shakespearian) Sonnet:

The English sonnet has the simplest and most flexible pattern of all sonnets, consisting of 3 quatrains of alternating rhyme and a couplet:

a

b

a

b

c

d

c

d

e

f

e

f

g

g

Sonnets are usually love poems

Each line has 10 syllables (iambic pentameter)

In an English Sonnet the "turn" (or "volta") occurs after line 12

As in the Spenserian, each quatrain develops a specific idea, but one closely related to the ideas in the other quatrains.

Not only is the English sonnet the easiest in terms of its rhyme scheme, calling for only pairs of rhyming words rather than groups of 4, but it is the most flexible in terms of the placement of the volta. Shakespeare often places the "turn," as in the Italian, at L9:

"Sonnet XXIX

When in disgrace with Fortune and men's eyes,

I all alone beweep my outcast state,

And trouble deaf heaven 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 friends possessed,

Desiring this man's art and that man's scope,

With what I most enjoy contented least,

Yet in these thoughts my self 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 remembered such wealth brings,

That then I scorn to change my state with kings.

Equally, Shakespeare can delay the volta to the final couplet, as in this sonnet where each quatrain develops a metaphor describing the aging of the speaker, while the couplet then states the consequence--"You better love me now because soon I won't be here":

"Sonnet LXXIII"

That time of year thou mayst in me behold,

When yellow leaves, or none, or few do hang

Upon those boughs which shake against the cold,

Bare ruined choirs, where late the sweet birds sang.

In me thou seest the twilight of such day,

As after sunset fadeth in the west,

Which by and by black night doth take away,

Death's second self that seals up all in rest.

In me thou seest the glowing of such fire,

That on the ashes of his youth doth lie,

As the deathbed, whereon it must expire,

Consumed by that which it was nourished by.

This thou perceivest, which makes thy love more strong,

To love that well, which thou must leave ere long.

*******************************************************

More Information About Sonnets Below

The exact pattern of sestet rhymes (unlike the octave pattern) is flexible. In strict practice, the one thing that is to be avoided in the sestet is ending with a couplet (dd or ee), as this was never permitted in Italy, and Petrarch himself (supposedly) never used a couplet ending; in actual practice, sestets are sometimes ended with couplets (Sidney's "Sonnet LXXI given below is an example of such a terminal couplet in an Italian sonnet).

The point here is that the poem is divided into two sections by the two differing rhyme groups. In accordance with the principle (which supposedly applies to all rhymed poetry but often doesn't), a change from one rhyme group to another signifies a change in subject matter. This change occurs at the beginning of L9 in the Italian sonnet and is called the volta, or "turn"; the turn is an essential element of the sonnet form, perhaps the essential element. It is at the volta that the second idea is introduced, as in this sonnet by Wordsworth:

"London, 1802"Milton!

thou shouldst be living at this hour:

England hath need of thee: she is a fen

Of stagnant waters: altar, sword, and pen,

Fireside, the heroic wealth of hall and bower,

Have forfeited their ancient

English dower Of inward happiness.

We are selfish men; Oh! raise us up,

return to us again; And give us manners,

virtue, freedom, power. Thy soul was like a

Star, and dwelt apart; Thou hadst a voice

whose sound was like the sea:

Pure as the naked heavens, majestic, free,

So didst thou travel on life's common way,

In cheerful godliness; and yet thy heart

The lowliest duties on herself did lay.

The sonnet can be thematically divided into two sections: the first presents the theme, raises an issue or doubt, and the second part answers the question, resolves the problem, or drives home the poem's point. This change in the poem is called the turn and helps move forward the emotional action of the poem quickly, as fourteen lines can become too short too fast.

Most sonnets are one of two kinds:

Italian (Petrarchan)- this sonnet is split into two parts, an octave and a sestet. The octave is composed of two envelope quatrains rhyming "abba abba" (Italian octave). The sestet's rhyme pattern varies, though it is most often either "cde cde" (Italian sestet) or "cdc dcd" (Sicilian sestet). The turn occurs at the end of the octave and is developed and closed in the sestet. Over the years, the Italian sonnet has been the most favored type of sonnet.

 Donald Justice- "Sonnet: The Poet at Seven"

And on the porch, across the upturned chair,

The boy would spread a dingy counterpane

Against the length and majesty of the rain,

And on all fours crawl under it like a bear

To lick his wounds in secret, in his lair;

And afterwards, in the windy yard again,

One hand cocked back, release his paper plane

Frail as a mayfly to the faithless air.

And summer evenings he would whirl around

Faster and faster till the drunken ground

Rose up to meet him; sometimes he would squat

Among the bent weeds of the vacant lot,

Waiting for dusk and someone dear to come

And whip him down the street, but gently home.

Notice the turn at line 9, "And summer evenings . . ." and how it develops and closes the poem by the last line. Justice changed the form a bit, rhyming the sestet "ccd dee," or viewed as couplets "cc dd ee."

English (Shakespearian)- this contains 3 Sicilian quatrains and one heroic couplet at the end, with an "abab cdcd efef gg" rhyme scheme. The turn comes at or near line 13, making the ending couplet quick and dramatic. Not many modern writers have taken to writing the Shakesperean sonnet. e. e. cummings, not known to the general public for sonnet writing, supplies us with a Shakespearean sonnet example:

)when what hugs stopping earth than silent is

more silent than more than much more is or

total sun oceaning than any this

tear jumping from each most least eye of star

and without was if minus and shall be

immeasurable happenless unnow

shuts more than open could that every tree

or than all his life more death begins to grow

end's ending then these dolls of joy and grief

these recent memories of future dream

these perhaps who have lost their shadows if

which did not do the losing spectres mine

until out of merely not nothing comes

only one snowflake(and we speak our names.

Anthem for Doomed Youth

by Wilfred Owen

What passing-bells for these who die as cattle? 

 Only the monstrous anger of the guns. 

 Only the stuttering rifles' rapid rattle 

 Can patter out their hasty orisons.

 No mockeries now for them; no prayers nor bells; 

 Nor any voice of mourning save the choirs, 

 The shrill, demented choirs of wailing shells; 

 And bugles calling for them from sad shires. 

 What candles may be held to speed them all? 

 Not in the hands of boys, but in their eyes 

 Shall shine the holy glimmers of good-byes. 

 The pallor of girls' brows shall be their pall; 

 Their flowers the tenderness of patient minds, 

 And each slow dusk a drawing-down of blinds.

Links

• Sonnets on Poets.org