Sonnets

Shakespearean (Elizabethan) Sonnet

• 14 Lines• 3 Quatrains (4 lines each) – Usually

rhymes abab cdcd efef• 1 Couplet (2 rhyming lines) Rhyme

is gg

• Each line has 10 syllables each.• Each line has a specific rhythm.

Shakespearean (Elizabethan) Sonnet

• The rhythm is called Iambic Pentameter.

• Iambic means a 2-syllable unit, one unaccented and the other accented, such as in the word “today.”

• Pentameter means it has 5 units ofiambic rhythm, such as in the sentence, “I know the way to go is over there.”

Shakespeare’s Sonnet 130“My Mistress’ Eyes are Nothing Like the Sun”

My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun; Coral is far more red than her lips’ red;If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.I have seen roses damasked, red and white,But no such roses see I in her cheeks;And in some perfume is there more delightThan in the breath that from my mistress reeks.I love to hear her speak, yet well I knowThat music hath a far more pleasing sound.I grant I never saw a goddess go;My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground.

And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rareAs any she belied with false compare.