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Description:
This video defines sonnets, a favorite of William Shakespeare. What are the different types of sonnet? How do you identify different kinds of sonnet (spoiler alert: rhyme scheme plays a big role)?
Transcript
- 00:00
Sonnets, a la Shmoop. Hope you like your poems with a little structure.
- 00:18
Free verse poetry is a popular form nowadays, as it allows a poet to write without strict
- 00:23
guidelines of rhyme or meter. [scroll writes on chalk board and then on wall]
- 00:26
On the opposite end of the spectrum is the “sonnet”…
- 00:29
…which doesn’t really believe in… writing outside of the box. [sonnet bashes scroll over the head with a ruler]
Full Transcript
- 00:32
That’s not to say that there isn’t room for creativity in a sonnet…
- 00:35
…but you’d better be creative using imagery, rather than fiddling with the format.
- 00:40
Okay, so who are these authoritarian poems who don’t believe in rule-breaking?
- 00:45
Sonnets are 14-line poems… yes, 14 lines exactly…
- 00:48
…and they follow a very rigid rhyme scheme.
- 00:53
There are actually a few different types of sonnets…
- 00:55
…but the most famous is the Shakespearean, or English, sonnet. [Shakespeare walks down red carpet with paparazzi]
- 01:00
Bill Shakespeare wrote over 150 of these bad boys, which is why they’re named after him.
- 01:04
He also had over 150 unpaid itemized statements, which is why those are today called “Bills.”
- 01:12
In a Shakespearean sonnet, the rhyming pattern is a-b-a-b-c-d-c-d-e-f-e-f-g-g.
- 01:20
Or, to express that in terms that aren’t a hodge-podge of letters…
- 01:24
…the lines that rhyme with one another in a typical English sonnet are:
- 01:28
…the first and third, the second and fourth…
- 01:31
…the fifth and seventh, the sixth and eighth…
- 01:33
…the ninth and eleventh, the tenth and twelfth…
- 01:35
…and finally, the last two.
- 01:38
Any deviation from that structure, and you no longer have a sonnet.
- 01:42
That’s a lot of pressure on a poor little poem. [sonnet hold up a rock over it's head]
- 01:44
And yet… there’s more.
- 01:46
Most… but not all… English sonnets use iambic pentameter…
- 01:50
…which relates to the words or syllables that are stressed in each line of the poem.
- 01:55
Although… with so many rules in place, it’s a wonder the entire poem isn’t stressed [sonnet lounges on pool deck chair]
- 02:01
If we take a look at the first couple lines of our sample sonnet…
- 02:03
…you can see that every other syllable gets a bit of emphasis.
- 02:06
It’s almost like the rhythmic beating of a drummer.
- 02:08
But with fewer groupies. So yeah, a sonneteer is bound by quite a few
- 02:12
stringent rules.
- 02:12
But that structure doesn’t prevent sonnets from hitting us on a gut level. [small man kicks sonnet in the stomach]
- 02:16
In fact, it almost turns them into little songs…
- 02:18
…which is what the word actually means…
- 02:21
…and that smooth, cadenced pattern draws us in rather than closes us off. [sonnet sprouts wings and flies off]
- 02:27
Read all 150-plus of Shakespeare’s sonnets and see if you agree.
- 02:31
Good luck not speaking in iambic pentameter for the rest of the week.
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