SONNETSThe fanciest of all love poems

Objective

• You will be able to identify the qualities of a sonnet by the time you leave

Bell activity:

Write a poem about love

Old Dude (e.e. Cummings) Older Dude (William Shakespeare)

The Red Pill or the Blue Pill?

e e Cummings; A brief history • e e = Edward Estlin Cummings

• Born October 14, 1894 – September 3, 1962

• American poet, painter, essayist, author and play right.

• Over 2,900 poems, 2 autobiographies, 4 plays and multiple essays

• He has written many sonnets with a modern twist, and has made use of many forms such as acrostics (Where the first letter, syllable, or word of a line spell out a word) and blues (which is a single line repeated four lines in a lyrical fashion).

• He is most known for his work with syntax (the way you arrange words and phrases) and his lack of punctuation

Cummings

Willy Shakes: A History• English poet, playwright, actor

• April 26, 1564-April 26, 1616

• Best known for: • Hamlet • Romeo and Juliet • Macbeth• A Midsummer Night’s Dream

What the hell is a sonnet?

14 Lines Three Quatrains

Couplet

Meter (specifically

iambic pentameter)

Rhyme Scheme

What the hell is a sonnet?

14 Lines Three Quatrains

Couplet

Meter (specifically

iambic pentameter)

Rhyme Scheme

Sonnet 17: 14 Lines

Who will believe my verse in time to come,If it were fill'd with your most high deserts?Though yet Heaven knows it is but as a tomb Which hides your life and shows not half your parts.If I could write the beauty of your eyes, And in fresh numbers number all your graces, The age to come would say, 'This poet lies, Such heavenly touches ne'er touch'd earthly faces.'So should my papers yellow'd with their age, Be scorn'd like old men of less truth than tongue,And your true rights be term'd a poet's rage And stretched metre of an antique song:     But were some child of yours alive that time,    You should live twice,-- in it and in my rhyme.

Sonnet

Sonnet 17: Rhyme SchemeWho will believe my verse in time to come,If it were fill'd with your most high deserts?Though yet Heaven knows it is but as a tomb Which hides your life and shows not half your parts.

If I could write the beauty of your eyes, And in fresh numbers number all your graces, The age to come would say, 'This poet lies, Such heavenly touches ne'er touch'd earthly faces.'

So should my papers yellow'd with their age, Be scorn'd like old men of less truth than tongue,And your true rights be term'd a poet's rage And stretched metre of an antique song:

But were some child of yours alive that time,   You should live twice,-- in it and in my rhyme.

ABAB

CDCD

EFEF

Sonnet

GG

Sonnet 17: Three QuatrainsWho will believe my verse in time to come,If it were fill'd with your most high deserts?Though yet Heaven knows it is but as a tomb Which hides your life and shows not half your parts.If I could write the beauty of your eyes, And in fresh numbers number all your graces, The age to come would say, 'This poet lies, Such heavenly touches ne'er touch'd earthly faces.'So should my papers yellow'd with their age, Be scorn'd like old men of less truth than tongue,And your true rights be term'd a poet's rage And stretched metre of an antique song:

Sonnet

being to timelessness as it’s to time:14 Lines

being to timelessness as it’s to time,love did no more begin than love will end;where nothing is to breathe to stroll to swimlove is the air the ocean and the land

(do lovers suffer?all divinitiesproudly descending put on deathful flesh:are lovers glad?only their smallest joy’sa universe emerging from a wish)

love is the voice under all silences,the hope which has no opposite in fear;the strength so strong mere force is feebleness:the truth more first than sun more last than star

-do lovers love?why then to heaven with hell.Whatever sages say and fools, all’s well

Sonnet

being to timelessness as it’s to time:

Three Quatrainsbeing to timelessness as it’s to time,love did no more begin than love will end;where nothing is to breathe to stroll to swimlove is the air the ocean and the land

(do lovers suffer?all divinitiesproudly descending put on deathful flesh:are lovers glad?only their smallest joy’sa universe emerging from a wish)

love is the voice under all silences,the hope which has no opposite in fear;the strength so strong mere force is feebleness:the truth more first than sun more last than star

Sonnet

being to timelessness as it’s to time: Rhyme Scheme

being to timelessness as it’s to time,love did no more begin than love will end;where nothing is to breathe to stroll to swimlove is the air the ocean and the land

(do lovers suffer?all divinitiesproudly descending put on deathful flesh:are lovers glad?only their smallest joy’sa universe emerging from a wish)

love is the voice under all silences,the hope which has no opposite in fear;the strength so strong mere force is feebleness:the truth more first than sun more last than star

-do lovers love?why then to heaven with hell.Whatever sages say and fools, all’s well

ABAB

CDCD

EFEF

GG

Sonnet

CoupletsSonnet 17  

But were some child of yours alive that time,   You should live twice,-- in it and in my rhyme.

being to timelessness as it’s to time

-do lovers love?why then to heaven with hell.Whatever sages say and fools, all’s well

GG

Sonnet

GG

The basic rhythmic structure of verse

What’s the Meter with you

Sonnet

Key Terms• The meter of a verse can be described as a

sequence of feet.

• Iambs are a kind of foot that is an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable.

• When a pair of syllables is arranged as an unstressed followed by a stressed pattern, then the foot is considered iambic.

• One of the more common kinds of meters is iambic pentameter which is a metrical measurement of five iambs together.

Sonnet

Stressed vs. unstressedSay the following words:

Being

To

Timelessness

As

It’s

To

Time

beING

to

TIMElessNESSasIT’S

to

TIME

Sonnet

For Iambic feet, it is an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed.

The rhythm can be written (or remembered) as such:

da DUM

This is like the human heartbeat and is a good way to remember that rhythm.

A line would look something like:

da DUM

da DUM

da DUM

da DUM

da DUM

Sonnet

Let’s try it out!

ShakespeareCummings

Rhyme Time

Rhyme These Words• Car

• Wall

• Chair

• Line

• Bike

• Show

• Heart

• Flesh

• Foot

• Orange

• End

• Fear

How do we map rhymes? • We start by labeling the first

rhyme with an A and every matching line with an A

• Every new rhyme is marked by the subsequent letter. • So car rhymes with bar A• But cat rhymes with mat B

Cummings

What is the rhyme scheme?

Who will believe my verse in time to come,

If it were fill'd with your most high deserts?

Though yet Heaven knows it is but as a tomb

Which hides your life and shows not half your parts.

Shakespeare

What is the rhyme scheme here?

being to timelessness as it’s to time,

love did no more begin than love will end;

where nothing is to breathe to stroll to swim

love is the air the ocean and the land

Cummings

Be sure to hand your poems in to Ms. Anderson

before you leave