Sonnets, Elegies, and Odes - Week 2-3

Sonnets

A 14-line poem made popular during the early modern period, originating in Italy in the 13th century.

Lyric poem

A poem expressing the heart or thoughts of a single speaker's personal mood, thoughts, or perceptions.

Petrarchan Sonnet

A sonnet consisting of an 8-line octave (abbaabba) and a 6-line sestet (cdecde or cdcdcd).

Shakespearean Sonnet

A sonnet consisting of 3 quatrains (four-line stanzas, rhyming 'abab cdcd efef') and a closing couplet (gg).

Odes

A long, formal, lyric poem that is serious in subject and treatment, elevated in style, and elaborate in stanzaic structure.

Pindaric Odes

Odes that follow the classical Greek poet Pindar's prototype, with three clear stanzas reflecting strophe, antistrophe, and epode.

Horatian Odes

Odes modeled after the Roman poet Horace, characterized by a calm, meditative, and colloquial tone and written in a single repeated stanza form.

Elegies

Lamenting poems, often meditative, that mourn the death of a public personage or a friend or loved one, reflecting on the broader theme of human mortality.