Sonnets Edmund Spenser

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• Leerjaar 5

Renaissance

Sonnets

Edmund Spencer 

William Shakespeare

Which motto means ' remember that you are mortal'

1. carpe diem
2. ad fontes
3. memento mori
4. carpe vinum

Which motto was te motto of the Renaissance?

1. carpe diem
2. memento mori
3. a bene placito
4. cave canum

Which wife did not belong to Henry VIII?

1. Anne Boleyn
2. Catherine of Aragon
3. Jane Austen
4. Catherine Howard

In which century did the Renaissance start in England?

1. 14th century
2. 16th century
3. 15th century
4. 17th century

Middle Ages

The Renaissance

Geoffrey Chaucer

Humanism

Memento mori

invention of printing

Courtly love tradition

theocentric

culture

anthropocentric

culture

Today:

• Hand in today's homework (letter professional cuddler)
• Resit R+J?
• Sonnets: Reader page 27

Homework Monday:

• Bring your reader
• Bring your exam prep books. 
• Bring your dictionairies 

Sonnets

- What is a sonnet?

- What parts are in a sonnet?

Sonnet

Lyrical:

• not telling a story
• elevated language
• expressing feelings
• About: human emotions / political conviction / admiration for nature

Grab pen and paper!

Make notes because  today's information will be very useful this year and next year and of course the rest of your life!

01:42

Iambic Pentameter

iambic = one unstressed syllable is followed by a stressed one

pentameter = each line has 5 feet; 5 sets of two syllables

Shall I / com pare / thee to / a sum / mer’s day

syllable

klemtoon

Introduction

• Sonetto, Italian for "little song" or "little sound"
• Lyrical poem of 14 lines 
• Sonnet is used to investigate a problem, conflict, desire, etc.
• Specific meter (stressed versus unstressed syllables) 
• Sonnets contain a volta /turn = a moment in the sonnet where the rhyming scheme changes, as well as the subject matter 

Petrarchan Sonnet

• Named after Francesco  Petrarca (1304-1374)
• Also referred to as the Italian Sonnet
• 14 lines of the poem are divided as such:
  Octave (8 lines): abba-abba
  Sestet (6 lines): cde-cde OR cd-cd-cd
• Octave's purpose is to introduce a problem, desire, wish, etc.
• Sestet introduces the volta, signalled by change in rhyme 

Shakespearian Sonnet

• Popularized by Shakespeare (1564-1616), even though the Petrarchan sonnet style was extremely popular at the time! 
• 14 lines of the poem are divided as such:
  Three quatrains (4 lines):  abab, cdcd, efef
  One couplet (2 lines): gg 
• The quatrains introduce the problem/theme and explore it
• The volta is found in the couplet, which resolves the theme

Shakespearian Sonnet (ctd.)

• Sonnet's meter is predominantly an iambic pentameter.
• Each line consists of 10 syllables in total
• Syllables are divided into 5 pairs, called iambs / iambic feet.
• An iamb is one unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable.
  When I / do COUNT / the CLOCK / that TELLS / the TIME (sonnet 12)

Edmund Spenser p. 27

Edmund Spenser [1552 – 1599]

• educated in Cambridge but spent most of his life in Ireland as a government official. 

• His best-known work is The Faerie Queene, a poem  praising England and its Queen Elizabeth I. 

• Also  known for: the sonnet sequence Amoretti (little love poems)  dedicated to Elizabeth Boyle, the woman he would later marry.

1. Which kind of sonnet is sonnet 75?

1. English : 3 quatrains and a concluding rhyming couplet.
2. Italian: an octave and a sextet.
3. Italian : 3 quatrains and a concluding rhyming couplet.
4. English: an octave and a sextet.

2. How many syllables per line?

1. Eight, alternately unstressed and stressed.
2. Eight, all stressed.
3. Ten, alternately unstressed and stressed.
4. Ten, all stressed.

3. What is the rhyme pattern?

1. abab bcbc cdcd ee
2. abba abba cde cde
3. abc abc cdef cdef

4. Which words in line 3 mean the same thing?

1. I/hand
2. agayne/second
3. wrote/with
4. I/it

5. What does "his" in line 4 refer back to?

6. Who does "she" in line 5 refer to?

1. The tide
2. The strand
3. Her name
4. The woman that the poet is in love with, i.e. Elizabeth Boyle.

 In what sense might the man reffered to in line 5 be 'vayne'?

Answer:

‘Vayne’ (old-fashioned spelling of ‘vain’) conveys arrogance: the woman is suggesting that the poet is arrogant to think he can achieve the impossible.

7. What is the meaning of the phrase
"in vaine" (line 5)

1. ‘futile’ or ‘doomed to fail’.
2. 'arrogant'
3. 'in the countryside'
4. 'on the beach'

8. What examples of alliteration can be found in this poem?

1. none
2. strand/hand; away/pray; fame/name; subdue/renew
3. waves/washed; paynes/pray; dy/dust; verse/vertues
4. came/made/paynes/pray; vayne/in vaine/assay

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Poetry