Literature 3 Amoretti Sonnet 75

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Literature 1

Road Map

English literature - Lesson 5

Edmund Spenser - Amoretti Sonnet 75

Focus

• The sonnet 

Lesson goal

At the end of this class you are able to:

• analyse a sonnet;
• describe the use of literary  tools in the work;
• recognise Edmund Spenser's context;
• place the work of Spenser in the greater context of English literature;
• describe the content and meaning of the sonnet discussed.

Periods of British Literature

Renaissance = also called 'Early Modern Period'

Edmund Spenser (1552 - 1599)

William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616)

Edmund Spenser

(1552 - 1599)

Context

• Edmund Spenser
• 1552 - 1599
• family of cloth makers
• fan of Virgil and Homer
• Dante, Petrarch and Boccaccio
• Other works: The Faerie Queene, The Shepheardes Calender

What do you know about ....

the Renaissance / Early Modern Period?

Context

• Queen Elizabeth I
• Absolute monarchy
• Church of England
• War with Spain
• Ireland 

From 1580 until his death Spenser lived in Ireland as a secretary to the Lord Deputy. He acquired quite some land and property there, which strengthened his position among the gentry. 

Literary language - the sonnet 

Do the assignments belonging to the sonnet

rhyme scheme: use the letters of the alphabet (e.g. abba, cddc or some such!)

Spenserian: in last 2 lines, turn

abab bcbc cdcd ee.

Petrarchan 8 - 6: after line 8 

abba abba cde cde/cdcdcd

Shakespearean 3 quatrains and a couplet

abab, cdcd, efef, gg

Iambic pentameter

A metrical form in which most lines consist of five 'iambs', a unit of rhythm (a 'foot') in poetry consisting of two syllables. The first one is unstressed, the second one stressed. 

One day / I wrote / her name/ upon / the strand

but came / the waves / and wash / ed it / away

Again / I wrote / it with / a se /cond hand

But came  / the tide / and made / my pains / his prey

Sonnet

A fixed verse form consisting of fourteen lines, usually in in iambic pentameter.

English sonnet: four quatrains (= 4 lines) and a couplet (=2 lines)

Italian sonnet: octave (= 8 lines) and a sestet (6 lines).

DO

Assignments under 'relevance' and 'create' in your binder.

Spenserian: in last 2 lines, turn

abab bcbc cdcd ee.

Petrarchan 8 - 6: after line 8 

abba abba cde cde/cdcdcd

Shakespearean 3 quatrains and a couplet

abab, cdcd, efef, gg

Lesson goal

At the end of this class you are able to:

• analyse a sonnet;
• describe the use of literary  tools in the work;
• recognise Edmund Spenser's context;
• describe the content and meaning of the sonnet discussed.