Unit 3: The Sonnet

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  1. sonnet
    a verse form of 14 lines with a fixed rhyme scheme
    A sonnet is a form of lyric poetry composed of fourteen lines in iambic pentameter.
  2. iambic
    of metrical units having an unstressed/stressed pattern
    A sonnet is a form of lyric poetry composed of fourteen lines in iambic pentameter.
  3. pentameter
    a verse line having five metrical feet
    A sonnet is a form of lyric poetry composed of fourteen lines in iambic pentameter.
  4. Petrarchan sonnet
    a sonnet consisting of an octave with the rhyme pattern abbaabba, followed by a sestet with the rhyme pattern cdecde or cdcdcd
    The Petrarchan sonnet is named after Italian Renaissance poet Francesco Petrarch (1304–1374), who dedicated more than three hundred poems to an idealized woman named Laura.
  5. Shakespearean sonnet
    a sonnet consisting of three quatrains and a concluding couplet in iambic pentameter with the rhyme pattern abab cdcd efef gg
    The stanza division of the Shakespearean sonnet allows for the presentation of three distinct images, united or interpreted by the couplet, or by the development of three points of an argument, resolved in the couplet.
  6. sequence
    serial arrangement in which things follow in logical order
    Petrarch’s sonnet sequence influenced countless other poets and still is held in high critical esteem today.
  7. octave
    a rhythmic group of eight lines of verse
    The Petrarchan sonnet consists of an octave (eight lines) rhyming abbaabba followed by a sestet (six lines), which may rhyme cdecde, cdedce, or any combination.
  8. sestet
    a group of six lines of verse
    The Petrarchan sonnet consists of an octave (eight lines) rhyming abbaabba followed by a sestet (six lines), which may rhyme cdecde, cdedce, or any combination.
  9. quatrain
    a stanza of four lines
    The Shakespearean sonnet is composed of three quatrains (four lines) rhyming abab cdcd efef and a couplet (two lines) rhyming gg.
  10. couplet
    a stanza consisting of two successive lines of verse
    The Shakespearean sonnet is composed of three quatrains (four lines) rhyming abab cdcd efef and a couplet (two lines) rhyming gg.
  11. metaphor
    a figure of speech that suggests a non-literal similarity
    The second quatrain introduces a metaphor to illustrate this point, characterizing love as “the star to every wandering bark.”
  12. meter
    a pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in verse
    For instance, the meter is fixed, with ten syllables occurring in iambic pentameter.
  13. iamb
    a metrical unit with unstressed-stressed syllables
    A line of iambic pentameter has five iambs, in which an unstressed syllable is followed by a stressed syllable, as in the word insist.
  14. scansion
    analysis of verse into metrical patterns
    Try reading the final couplet of Shakespeare’s Sonnet 116 aloud, according to the scansion (analysis of meter).
Created on Tue Mar 09 09:25:25 EST 2021 (updated Fri Jun 18 09:46:23 EDT 2021)

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