SolaireOfAstora
After Mon and Tues, even the calendar says WTF
Hey all! (I have this posted on Reddit too, in case you see it there, I'm the same person!) I know we like poetry here, so I thought "why don't we talk about the sonnet?" which is the strictest, most rigid form of poetry. Like seriously. I'll break it up into separate posts just to make it cleaner and easier to read.
Sonnets are a type of poem that follow VERY strict rules, and while you may ask yourself "why would I want to do that?", well it's very rewarding to know that even with all of the rules and restrictions you can make an awesome poem. Being forced to confine to syllable counts and rhyme schemes forces us poets to get very creative in finding ways to get our point across and I think it's a wonderful learning experience.
You mean other than painful? A sonnet is the general term used for a 14-line poem that consists of a specific rhyme scheme and meter. Due to the meter it is read in ("iambic pentameter") there is 10 syllables per line, although you will find the occasional 9 or 11 syllable outlier.
The first one I will outline has the most history and thus is a decent bit longer than the others, but in order of appearance:
Petrarchan Sonnet
Shakespearean Sonnet
Spenserian Sonnet
Miltonic Sonnet
Although he is the creator of sonnets, Lentini is not the namesake of the earliest type of sonnet. That goes to Francesco Petrarch, who was considered the "perfecter of the form"
Fast forward to a bit to Elizabethen era England (1558 - 1603) where the Petrarchan sonnet evolved to become the next three forms: Shakespearean, Spenserian and Miltonic.
After being introduced to England by Sir Thomas Wyatt in the early 16th century, the Petrarchan sonnet was still being actively used throughout the entire Elizabethen era, potentially due to the Earl of Surrey, a man named Henry Howard, both wrote his own sonnets and translated many of the most famous Italian pieces.
Shakespeare himself comes into the picture about 100 years after the introduction of sonnets to England. Like Petrarch, he did not create his namesake sonnet, instead he was considered the style's "perfecter" which is possibly linked to hisincessant use of the iambic pentameter (we'll talk about this later)
Another evolution was the Spenserian sonnet. A man named Edmund Spenser is the namesake: it is a Shakespearean sonnet with a more complex rhyme scheme.
The final one that I will talk about is the Miltonic sonnet, which was created by a guy with the most British sounding name ever: John Milton. It is nearly identical to the Shakespearean sonnet, but the content distinction is important enough to make a whole separate category.
Bear in mind, the Shakespearean, Spenserian and Miltonic styles all happened around the same time. Spenser died just before Shakespeare and Milton died right after.
An iamb is one type of poetic "foot". Pretty much all poetic feet are two or three syllables in length. The "iambic" foot is two syllables long.
To determine if it's an iamb, check the stresses on the syllables. This is easiest done while reading aloud. Note where the stresses fall naturally.
The pattern of an iambic foot is simple: one unstressed syllable followed by one stressed syllable.
Say it out loud. It's helps me to exaggerate the stresses more than normal.
I'll break it down into the steps I was taught:
Step 1. Read the text normally (out loud), but pay attention to where you naturally stress the words. Note you can just whisper-read, you don't have to act like you're presenting it to someone, unless you want to. Knowing the overall tone of the text also helps.
Step 2. Grab your pen! Cut each word into syllables. This doesn't take as long as you might think. Like this: |Am|I|mak|ing|sen|se?|
Step 3. Read the first line slowly and read aloud, make sure to exaggerate your stresses on the syllables. Word by word, mark whether you read the syllable as stressed or unstressed. If you feel that it's unstressed make a mark above that syllable that resembles a shallow, wide "U". If you are using a computer, use an "x". If you feel that it's stressedlike me mark it with a left-facing slash "/".
Step 4. Find the pattern. Mostly [x | /]? it's an iamb. Mostly [/ | /]? it's a spondee. Mostly [/ | x]? it's a trochee. [x | x] is pyrrhic. If the pattern is more obvious every 3 syllables: [x | x | /] is referred to as anapestic and [/ | / | x] is dactylic. Don't worry about the names though, you just need to remember "iambic" as it's the most important and how to identify stresses.
Step 5. Average out the number of syllables per line. Do this by adding all the syllables in the entire poem and dividing it by the number of lines. Round to the nearest whole number. Divide this number by the number of syllables in the foot that you identified (either 2 or 3).
Step 6. Name the poetic meter! It goes iambic/spondaic/trochaic/pyrrhic/dactlyic/anapestic + prefix determined by final # in step 5 (mono for 1, tetra for 4, penta for 5, etc.) + "meter"
Try it:
Of these 5 sentences one is written in iambic pentameter and one of them is written in iambic tetrameter. See if you can figure out where the iambs are!
a) But soft! What light by yonder window breaks?
b) Tell me not in mournful numbers
c) And the sound l of a voice l that is still
d) Was three long mountains and a wood
e) Just for a handful of silver he left us
Well?
The iambic pentameter is
The iambic tetrameter is
The rest are:
Sonnets are a type of poem that follow VERY strict rules, and while you may ask yourself "why would I want to do that?", well it's very rewarding to know that even with all of the rules and restrictions you can make an awesome poem. Being forced to confine to syllable counts and rhyme schemes forces us poets to get very creative in finding ways to get our point across and I think it's a wonderful learning experience.
What is a sonnet?
Types of Sonnets
There are a few different types of sonnets, but each follow the rule of 14 lines and 10 syllables per line. The difference is the rhyme scheme and stanza breaks. There are 4 main types of sonnets, which I will outline below. As with anything, the art has evolved and there are tons of modernized subtypes, but I'm only going to outline the original 4, or else we'd be here for ages.The first one I will outline has the most history and thus is a decent bit longer than the others, but in order of appearance:
Petrarchan Sonnet
Shakespearean Sonnet
Spenserian Sonnet
Miltonic Sonnet
History
The word "sonnet" is derived from the the Italian word "sonetto" which is derived form the other Italian word "suono", meaning sound. As you'd expect, the origins are Italian. The creation of the sonnet is attributed to Giacomo da Lentini, a 13th century lyrical poet who wrote poetry in the "Sicilian dialect". If you do not know, Sicily is the Island found in Southern Italy. It is still a part of Italy. (In fact, I'm half Sicilian, my grandparents immigrated from there!)Although he is the creator of sonnets, Lentini is not the namesake of the earliest type of sonnet. That goes to Francesco Petrarch, who was considered the "perfecter of the form"
Fast forward to a bit to Elizabethen era England (1558 - 1603) where the Petrarchan sonnet evolved to become the next three forms: Shakespearean, Spenserian and Miltonic.
After being introduced to England by Sir Thomas Wyatt in the early 16th century, the Petrarchan sonnet was still being actively used throughout the entire Elizabethen era, potentially due to the Earl of Surrey, a man named Henry Howard, both wrote his own sonnets and translated many of the most famous Italian pieces.
Shakespeare himself comes into the picture about 100 years after the introduction of sonnets to England. Like Petrarch, he did not create his namesake sonnet, instead he was considered the style's "perfecter" which is possibly linked to his
Another evolution was the Spenserian sonnet. A man named Edmund Spenser is the namesake: it is a Shakespearean sonnet with a more complex rhyme scheme.
The final one that I will talk about is the Miltonic sonnet, which was created by a guy with the most British sounding name ever: John Milton. It is nearly identical to the Shakespearean sonnet, but the content distinction is important enough to make a whole separate category.
Bear in mind, the Shakespearean, Spenserian and Miltonic styles all happened around the same time. Spenser died just before Shakespeare and Milton died right after.
An Iambic What??
It sounds more complex than it is, trust me.An iamb is one type of poetic "foot". Pretty much all poetic feet are two or three syllables in length. The "iambic" foot is two syllables long.
To determine if it's an iamb, check the stresses on the syllables. This is easiest done while reading aloud. Note where the stresses fall naturally.
The pattern of an iambic foot is simple: one unstressed syllable followed by one stressed syllable.
Say it out loud. It's helps me to exaggerate the stresses more than normal.
How to determine the meter and foot?
I'll break it down into the steps I was taught:
Step 1. Read the text normally (out loud), but pay attention to where you naturally stress the words. Note you can just whisper-read, you don't have to act like you're presenting it to someone, unless you want to. Knowing the overall tone of the text also helps.
Step 2. Grab your pen! Cut each word into syllables. This doesn't take as long as you might think. Like this: |Am|I|mak|ing|sen|se?|
Step 3. Read the first line slowly and read aloud, make sure to exaggerate your stresses on the syllables. Word by word, mark whether you read the syllable as stressed or unstressed. If you feel that it's unstressed make a mark above that syllable that resembles a shallow, wide "U". If you are using a computer, use an "x". If you feel that it's stressed
Step 4. Find the pattern. Mostly [x | /]? it's an iamb. Mostly [/ | /]? it's a spondee. Mostly [/ | x]? it's a trochee. [x | x] is pyrrhic. If the pattern is more obvious every 3 syllables: [x | x | /] is referred to as anapestic and [/ | / | x] is dactylic. Don't worry about the names though, you just need to remember "iambic" as it's the most important and how to identify stresses.
Step 5. Average out the number of syllables per line. Do this by adding all the syllables in the entire poem and dividing it by the number of lines. Round to the nearest whole number. Divide this number by the number of syllables in the foot that you identified (either 2 or 3).
Step 6. Name the poetic meter! It goes iambic/spondaic/trochaic/pyrrhic/dactlyic/anapestic + prefix determined by final # in step 5 (mono for 1, tetra for 4, penta for 5, etc.) + "meter"
Try it:
Of these 5 sentences one is written in iambic pentameter and one of them is written in iambic tetrameter. See if you can figure out where the iambs are!
a) But soft! What light by yonder window breaks?
b) Tell me not in mournful numbers
c) And the sound l of a voice l that is still
d) Was three long mountains and a wood
e) Just for a handful of silver he left us
Well?
The iambic pentameter is
a) this is a famous line in Romeo and Juliet!
The iambic tetrameter is
d) It's from Edna St. Vincent Millay's "Renascence"
The rest are:
b) is a trochaic tetrameter (from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's "Song of Hiawatha") c) is an anapestic pentameter (from Lord Byron's "The Destruction of Sennacherib") and e) is a dactylic pentameter (from Robert Browning's "The Lost Leader")
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