Poetry Notes

The Sonnet

• A sonnet is a fourteen-line poem in iambic pentameter with a carefully patterned rhyme scheme. Other strict, short poetic forms occur in English poetry (the sestina, the villanelle, and the haiku, for example), but none has been used so successfully by so many different poets.

• The Italian, or Petrarchan sonnet, named after Francesco Petrarch (1304-1374), the Italian poet was introduced into English poetry in the early 16th century by Sir Thomas Wyatt (1503-1542). Its fourteen lines break into an octave (or octet), which usually rhymes ABBAABBA, but which may sometimes be ABBACDDC or even (rarely) ABABABAB; and a sestet, which may rhyme XYZXYZ or XYXYXY, or any of the multiple variations possible using only two or three rhyme-sounds.

• The English or Shakespearean sonnet, developed first by Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey (1517-1547), consists of three quatrains and a couplet - that is, it rhymes ABAB CDCD EFEF GG

• THE IMPORTANCE OF FORM

  • The form into which a poet puts his or her words is always something that the reader ought to take conscious note

  • And when poets have chosen to work within such a strict form, that form and its strictures make up part of what they want to say.

  • In other words, the poet is using the structure of the poem as part of the language act: we will find the “meaning” not only in the words but partly in their pattern as well.

• The sonnet can be thematically divided into two sections:

• The first presents the theme, raises an issue or doubt,

• 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.

• The Italian Form, in some ways the simpler of the two, usually projects and develops a subject in the octet, then executes a turn at the beginning of the sestet, so that the sestet can in some way release the tension built up in the octave

Why Read Poetry?

• Poetry has been regarded as something central to existence, something having unique value to the fully realized life, something that we are better off for having and without which we are spiritually impoverished.

• Everyone knows about poetry, whether they think they do or not.

• Prose vs. Poetry

• Prose is everyday writing. It includes all the different types of writing you read daily, from blogs to articles to novels. It could be a fictional novel taking you away to a far-off planet or a non-fictional news article covering the latest natural disaster. It can also be a verbal story.

• Within prose, the writing structure includes sentences, paragraphs, and chapters. Additional qualities woven within the text include theme, mood, point-of-view, plot, setting, etc.

• There are 4 common types of prose:

  • Fictional Prose takes you away to a made-up world or story such as The Hunger Games

  • Non-fictional Prose is a factual account of events such as Anne Frank’s The Diary of a Young Girl

  • Heroic Prose includes oral and written traditions like fables and legends.

  • Poetic Prose is writing with poetic qualities, such as heightened emotions and imagery, that are not written in verse. One example is Amy Lowell’s Bath

• While prose is writing, poetry adds artistic style to writing. Poetry is all about vivid imagery and rhythm. It works to make you feel something or drive a point home. Poetry writers select their structure, rhyme scheme, pattern, and words to arouse emotion.

• Rather than sentences and paragraphs, poetry uses lines, stanzas, verses, meter, stress, patterns, and rhythm. It offers an artistic way to present emotions and events.

• Poetry comes in several different forms, but the common types of poetry include:

  • Sonnet- lyric poetry with and 14-line arrangement

  • Haiku- traditional Japanese poetry

  • Acrostic- mixes letters and phrases

  • Free verse- no set meter

  • Epic- from oral traditions

  • Rhymed- creates specific rhyme pattern

  • Descriptive- uses descriptive language to express a message

  • Narrative- tells a story

• Prose Poetry is poetry written in prose instead of using verse but preserving poetic qualities such as heightened imagery and emotional effects. It can be considered primarily poetry or prose, or a separate genre altogether. While prose poetry in the West originated in the 19th century, it has gained more popularity since the 1980s

• Meter is a literary device that works as a structural element in poetry.

• Meter is the basic rhythmic structure of a line within a poem or poetic work.

• Meter functions as a means of imposing a specific number of syllables and emphasis when it comes to a line of poetry that adds to its musicality.

• It consists of the number of syllables and the pattern of emphasis on those syllables.

• In addition, meter governs individual units within a line of poetry, called “feet.”

• A “foot” of a poetic work features a specific number of syllables and a pattern of emphasis

• In poetry, feeds are segments of stressed and unstressed syllables that, when used properly, create rhythmic sounds in each line of a poem.

• Poetic feed are combined with…

  • meter

  • the number of feet per line (to create the overall line length)

  • feet that determine the placement or pattern of syllables

• Common Examples of Metrical Feet

• For English poetry, metrical feed generally features two or three syllables. They are categorized by a specific combination of stressed and unstressed syllables. The most common examples of metrical feet include:

• Trochee (Trochaic): stressed syllable followed by an unstressed syllable, as in “custom”( \ U )

  • The words “lover,” “railroad” and singer are examples

  • Edgar Allen Poe used trochaic feet in his poem, “The Raven”

• Lamb (Lambic): unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable, as in “describe” ( U \ )

  • An iambic foot is very musical in its rhythm

  • The word “employ” is an example of an iambic foot because the second syllable receives the accent

  • Sonnets often make use of this syllabic pattern

• Spondee (Spondaic): equal stress for both syllables, as in “cupcake” ( \ \ )

  • Created from two stressed syllables

• Pyrrhic

  • Made of two unstressed syllables

• Neither of these feet is used exclusively, as it would be difficult to write or read a poem written entirely in stressed or unstressed syllables. These feet, therefore, are only used to add variety to lines of poetry.

• Dactyl (Dactylic): stressed syllable, followed by two unstressed syllables, as in “bicycle” ( \ U U )

  • This pattern is found in words such as “absently” and “daffodil”

• Anapest (Anapestic): two unstressed syllables, followed by a stressed syllable, as in “understand” ( U U \ )

  • With a sound reminiscent of a horse’s galloping, “intervene” and “interrupt” both follow this three-syllable pattern

• Blank Verse is a poetic form that doesn’t rhyme but instead follows the rhythmic pattern of iambic pentameter

  • The pattern for iambic pentameter is ( U \ ) or (unstressed|stressed).

  • This simply means that the foot pattern is a grouping of two syllables; the first being unstressed and the second being emphasized or stressed. The two syllables repeat five times (penta means five) for a total of ten syllables or five iambs per line

  • Therefore, the stress is on syllables 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10

  • Example: “(But soft,)(what light)(through yon)(der win)(dow breaks?)” - Romeo and Juliet

  • As you can see the food pattern is about syllables, not words. Words are often split when syllables are counted. Shakespeare is famous for using iambic pentameter when writing both his sonnets and his plays. While his sonnets followed a rhyme scheme, his plays were written in blank verse or unrhymed iambic pentameter