Sonnets Flashcards
What are the features of a Sonnet? (5)
Iambic pentameter 14 lines Rhyming couplet Arguments, opinions Decasyllabic metre
What are the basic metres? (4)
Iamb(ic) x /
trochee / x
Spondee / /
Prryhic x x
Basic syllable counts (feet) (8)
Monometer Di tri Tetra Penta hexa hepta octa
Describe trochaic inversion
Provides emphasis at the start of a line
/ x instead of x /
What is a virgule?
breaks up feet
What is a caesura?
Medial break, ordinarily between rather than within feet.
What are the parts of a sonnet (lines)
Octaves Quatrains Couplets Sestet Tercet Douzain
What is the Italian term for turn?
Volta
Change in argument, theme, tone
What are the origins of the Sonnet?
Italian form c.1230
Roots in province and troubadour song
Courtly love themes
What is a conceit?
A complex, theme
usually love, pain, tragedy, lust
What is the rhyme scheme of a Petrarchan sonnet?
an octave and a sestet
ABBA ABBA CDE CDE
What is the rhyme scheme of a English Sonnet?
an octave and a sestet (3 quatrains and a couplet)
ABAB ABAB CDCD EE
What is the rhyme scheme of a Shakespearean Sonnet?
A douzain and a couplet
3 quatrains
ABAB CDCD EFEF GG
What are the features of a pre-1700 sonnet?
Tends to have development
Stability of character/muse
Sense of frustration, progress, resolution (narrative)
Who were Shakespeare’s muses for his 154 sonnets?
Young, fair man
Dark lady/mistress
What is a metaphysical poem?
large conceit that is overarching
What was the Romantic era for poetry? What happened in the era that changed poetry?
approx 1780-1837
Revolutions: French, American
Romanticism: emotions, discovery
When was the Victorian era?
During Queen Victoria’s reign: 1837- 1900
What were some features of Victorian poetry?
more balance between genders
Strong religious, emotional, political themes
Name 3 pre-1700 poets.
Shakespeare: Shall I compare thee…
John Donne: Batter my heart…
John Milton: upon his blindness…
Name 3 Romantic era poets.
Wordsworth : London 1802 John Keats: On first looking into Chapman's homer Percy Bysshe (husband of Mary Shelley)
Name 3 Victorian era poets.
Elizabeth Barret Browning: How do I love thee?…
Christina Rosetti: in an artist’s studio
Thomas Hardy: Hap
What is the opening line from Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s Victorian love sonnet?
“How do I love thee? Let me count the ways”
What does Hardy’s sonnet say in response to Hopkin’s sonnet?
“vengeful god”
“my pilgrimage as pain”
