Sonnets“Little Sounds” of Love

Think of all the stories you’ve heard about people getting asked out…

What is the most creative way you can remember? Explain the details.

What was done? What was said?

What is a sonnet?

-14 line poem

-has a set rhyme scheme (pattern of rhymes)

-originally written as “love songs” to women

-women represent ideals (love, purity, etc.)

-Nowadays, a sonnet can explore many themes besides love

Sonnet: “little sounds” (Italian)

13th Century Sicily: poets writing love songs

in the Courts of Frederick II (Holy Roman Emperor)

“Courtly Love”: builds on concept of chivalry

“Courtly Love”

Expressing love for an IDEALIZE woman

Woman on a pedestal

admired from a distance

rarely spoken to

symbolizes abstract virtues

Dante’s Obsession from AfarLoves, Beatrice, but never talked to her…

Beatrice dies…

Dante dedicates the rest of his life to “honoring her” with his poetry

Gives her a sacred place

Acts as his guide through Paradise

Remember Plato’s Ideal Forms

Petrarch: Honoring Laura

-Petrarch sees Laura (in Avignon, France)

-Love at first sight

-She refuses him (because she’s married)

-She dies

-He channels his love for her into sonnets

Petrarch’s Il Canzoniere (1374)

1st great sonnet sequence: collection of sonnets that form a loose story

-central theme: love of Laura

-sonnets explore questions…

- “What is the virtue of love?”

- “Why do I desire love if it’s painful?!?!”

Petrarch’s “Song Book”

-Started a trend (all across Europe)

-In the courts, aristocratic men wrote sonnets

usually to…

-woe women

-express ideals

Italian (Petrarchan) Sonnet

14 lines

Octave (8 lines): develops a theme

Sestet (6 lines): expands or contradicts theme

“When I consider How My Light is Spent” by John MiltonWhen I consider how my light is spent,

Ere half my days in this dark world wide,And that one talent which is death to hide

Lodged with me useless, though my soul more bentTo serve therewith my Maker, and present

My true account, lets he returning chide; “Doth God exact day-labor, light denied?”

I fondly ask. But Patience, to preventThat murmur soon replies, “God doth not need

Either man’s work or His own gifts. Who best Bear His mild yoke, they serve Him best. His state

Is kingly: thousands at his bidding speed, And post o’er land and ocean without rest; They also serve who only stand and wait

ABBA OctaveABBACDE SestetCDE

Shakespearean Sonnets divided into…-Three quatrains: abab

cdcdefef

-A closing couplet: gg

English (Shakespearean) Sonnets

□ Quatrains may develop separate metaphors □ Closing couplet can either confirm or go

sharply against the prior lines. □ The volta comes in line 13 usually—

sometimes in line 9

The two major sonnet forms:

Petrarchan (Italian)

A

B

B

A Octave (8 lines)

A

B

B

A The TURN

C

D

E

C Sestet (6 lines)

D

E

Shakespearean

A

B

A

B

C

D

C 3 quatrains

D

E

F The TURN

E

F

G Rhyming

G Couplet