Things You Should Know: Sonnets
Episode 38
This week Professor Pipes talks the sonnet
In various forms both region and rhyme
Learn different structures used throughout time
And different rhyme schemes placed upon it
There is a type of poem you should know,
A famous kind of verse that’s known for love,
So if you seek to charm your lovely beau,
The sonnet is the poem we’ll learn of!
There is a rigid structure to this verse:
There’s 14 lines and that you can’t adjust.
And though the rhyme scheme sometimes is diverse,
Iambic penta-meter is a must.
This means the words are unstressed and then stressed,
And in each line you have five iamb sets.
It’s like the heartbeat pounding in your chest,
And that’s as complicated as it gets.
Well now that all the structure has been shown,
Let’s talk about the peeps who made them known.
In Italy the sonnet got its start,
And many writers tried to leave their mark.
By far the most well known is dear Petrarch,
Who made his poems Italian works of art.
He used the sonnet form to bear his heart,
Expressing love to maybe start that spark.
He praised the female form as his hallmark,
which, let’s be honest, probably was smart.
An octave starts Italian sonnets first,
And then six lines will end it in response.
Petrarchan rhyme scheme’s written over here.
From Italy to England goes this verse,
A classic of both region’s renaissance,
Which brings us now to good old Will Shakespeare.
Now Will, the cheeky chap, did not approve
Of Petrarch’s rather cliche written voice.
It’s kind of like a cheesy pick up move,
So Shakespeare... well... he made a different choice.
Twelve lines and then a volta, or a turn,
Starts off an English sonnet, but there’s more.
The final couplet adds a bit to learn.
Now, famous Shakespeare wrote one fifty four,
But love is such a universal theme,
And Shakespeare’s aren’t the only sonnets known.
Oh! Spenser even used his own rhyme scheme,
And Milton had a more spiritual tone,
And Lizzy Barrett Browning does amaze.
How do I love her? Let me count the ways.
So there you have it: sonnet form and rhyme,
Italian origins and British fame.
You know of those who used it in its prime
And how each line is basically the same.
If finding love is currently your aim,
And if you’ve got a bit of patience, too,
Then try it out and really up your game.
I mean, what better way is there to woo?
The iambs, I’ll admit, are hard to do,
But really you just have to count to ten,
And choose the rhyme scheme that most speaks to you,
And then just put your love into your pen.
And now before my rhyming gets much worse,
It’s time to end this short but useful verse.
