Sir Phillip Sidney

The Sonnet: History

•Originated with the Italian Petrarch ca.

1327, who wrote 317 sonnets to his beloved

Laura

•Brought to England by Sir Thomas Wyatt and

Henry Howard in the early 16th century

•By the late 16th century, hundreds of

poets wrote thousands of sonnets:

•Sonnets were the rap music of the day

Definition & Form

A sonnet is a fourteen line lyrical poem, that is, one expressing the poet’s thoughts and feelings.

• A formal, set rhyme scheme, though the rhyme scheme differs depending on the type

• Form and theme are related: the stanzas reflect movement through a particular thought or idea

• There are two basic types

1. Petrarchan (aka Italian)

2. English (aka Shakespearean)

Petrarchan Sonnets:•An octave (8 lines) plus a sestet (6 lines)

•Rhyme scheme: abba abba cde cde

•The octave presents a problem or a question; the sestet offers an answer or solution

Shakespearean Sonnets:•Three quatrains (4 lines) and a concluding couplet (2 lines)

•Rhyme scheme: abab cdcd efef gg

•A problem or a question is developed in the quatrains; the couplet offers a comment or conclusion(The form easily incorporates the

“if. . . then” structure of a syllogism.)

Sonnet 29When, 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 myself almost despising,Haply I think on thee, and then my state,Like to the lark at break of day arisingFrom sullen earth, sings hymns at heaven’s gate;For thy sweet love remembered such wealth bringsThat then I scorn to change my state with kings.

Sonnet 29When, in disgrace with Fortune and men’s eyes, a

I all alone beweep my outcast state, bAnd trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries, aAnd look upon myself and curse my fate, bWishing me like to one more rich in hope, cFeatured like him, like him with friends possessed, dDesiring this man’s art, and that man’s scope, cWith what I most enjoy contented least; d?Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising, eHaply I think on thee, and then my state, fLike to the lark at break of day arising eFrom sullen earth, sings hymns at heaven’s gate; fFor thy sweet love remembered such wealth brings gThat then I scorn to change my state with kings. g

R hyme Scheme

When, in/ dis grace/ with For/ tune and /men’s eyes,I all/ a lone/ be weep/ my out/ cast state,

Meter: Iambic Pentameter

Pentameter=Five feet of two syllables

When, in/ dis grace/ with For/ tune and /men’s eyes,

I all/ a lone/ be weep/ my out/ cast state,

Iambic Meter= Unaccented syllable + Accented Syllable

When, in disgrace with Fortune and men’s eyes, aI all alone beweep my outcast state, bAnd trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries, aAnd look upon myself and curse my fate, b

Wishing me like to one more rich in hope, cFeatured like him, like him with friends possessed, dDesiring this man’s art, and that man’s scope, cWith what I most enjoy contented least; d?

Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising, eHaply I think on thee, and then my state, fLike to the lark at break of day arising eFrom sullen earth, sings hymns at heaven’s gate; f

For thy sweet love remembered such wealth brings gThat then I scorn to change my state with kings. g

Sonnet Structure

1

2

3

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,

Quatrain 1:

Paraphrase/ Tone:•Sorrowful, almost hopeless tone

•Poet is expressing self-pity & seems to be in a state of disgrace

•Diction indicates the tone:

disgrace alone beweep outcast trouble

“deaf heaven” bootless curse

Quatrain 2: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;

Paraphrase:

•Imagery focuses on comparison:

“one more rich in hope,” “featured like him”

•The poet is expressing jealousy of others, wishing himself like those who are luckier, those who are better looking, more intelligent, etc.

Quatrain 3:Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising,Haply I think on thee, and then my state,Like to the lark at break of day arisingFrom sullen earth, sings hymns at heaven’s gate;

Paraphrase:•Poet is expressing a change of tone and thought

•When he thinks of his beloved, his entire state changes, “like the lark” arising at dawn.

•Imagery changes dramatically:

lark break of day arising hymns heaven’s gate

(All positive, almost joyful words)

Concluding Couplet:For thy sweet love remembered such wealth bringsThat then I scorn to change my state with kings.

Paraphrase:

•When the poet remembers his beloved, he feels so fortunate and so “wealthy,” that he would not change his state with anyone’s, not even with a king.

Where is the turn, or shift in focus or

thought?

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 myself almost despising,

Like to the lark at break of day arisingFrom sullen earth, sings hymns at heaven’s gate;For thy sweet love remembered such wealth bringsThat then I scorn to change my state with kings.

Haply I think on thee, and then my state, (line 10)

A "conceit" is a fanciful notion, generally expressed through an elaborate metaphor.

From Petrarch, the poets of the Renaissance took not only a conventional form but also conventional sentiments:

Eyes like stars or the sun, hair like golden wires, lips like cherries, etc. are common examples. Oxymorons are also common, such as freezing fire, burning ice, etc.

A stock feature of this poetry is a comparison known as the

Petrarchan Conceit

•Relation between the poet and his beloved presented in terms of an idealized courtly

love: the persona is a "humble servant" tossed by

a tempest on the sea of despair,

•the beloved can wound with a glance, and

•her beauty is described in stereotypical fashion. Her cheeks are like roses, her

eyes sparkle, and her lips are ruby red.

Thomas Campion's 1617 lyric "There Is a Garden in Her Face“

There is a garden in her face,

Where roses and white lilies grow,

A heavenly paradise is that place,

Wherein all pleasant fruits do flow.

There cherries grow, which none may buy

Till "Cherry ripe!" themselves do cry.

 

Those cherries fairly do enclose

Of orient pearl a double row;

Which when her lovely laughter shows,

They look like rosebuds filled with snow.

Yet them nor peer nor prince can buy, Till "Cherry ripe!" themselves do cry.

 

Her eyes like angels watch them still;

Her brows like bended bows do stand,

Threatening with piercing frowns to kill

All that attempt with eye or hand

Those sacred cherries to come nigh,

Till "Cherry ripe!" themselves do cry.

Petrarchan conceits were overused to the point of nausea in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

SONNET 130My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun;Coral is far more red than her lips' red;If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.I have seen roses damask'd, red and white, But no such roses see I in her cheeks;And in some perfumes is there more delightThan in the breath that from my mistress reeks.I love to hear her speak, yet well I knowThat music hath a far more pleasing sound; I grant I never saw a goddess go;My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground:And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rareAs any she belied with false compare.

Analyze Sonnet 130:• Scan the first quatrain for practice• Plot the rhyme scheme (a, b, c, etc.)• Divide it into quatrains & couplets• Mark/ highlight key words• Paraphrase each section, briefly• Find the turn• What is the tone? • What is the essential question posed by the

sonnet?• How does the turn affect the tone of the sonnet?

SONNET 116Let me not to the marriage of true mindsAdmit impediments. Love is not loveWhich alters when it alteration finds,Or bends with the remover to remove:O no! it is an ever-fixed markThat looks on tempests and is never shaken;It is the star to every wandering bark,Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeksWithin his bending sickle's compass come:Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,But bears it out even to the edge of doom.If this be error and upon me proved,I never writ, nor no man ever loved.