Understanding a Sonnet

General Principles

1. A Shakespearian sonnet is 14 lines.

2. There are three quatrains (i.e. a stanza of four lines) and a concluding couplet (i.e. a stanza of two lines).

3. The quatrains use the rhyme scheme ABAB CDCD EFEF. 

4. The couplet uses the rhyme scheme GG

5. Usually, each quatrain pursues a different aspect of the subject. 

6. Usually, the couplet comments on the “discussion” in the quatrains—often the couplet offers a kind of “turn” from the ideas in the quatrains, something like a “but” or “yet” or “however” kind of statement. 

7. Shakespearian sonnets use iambic pentameter. 

8. An “iamb” is a unit of language consisting of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed one (a “stressed” syllable is a syllable that is STRONG; an “unstressed” syllable is weak).  Iambic is a kind of “da-DUM da-DUM da-DUM da-DUM da-DUM pattern.  The word “Elizabeth,” for example, is four syllables and contains two iambs: eLIZaBETH).  The first line of Sonnet 18 reads “shall I comPARE thee TO a SUMmer's DAY.  Usually, each line of Shakespeare’s sonnets contain five iambs (ten syllables)—hence iambic pentameter.

Stage 1: Reading

1. Read the sonnet aloud without looking at footnotes.  Listen to it, and try to get a sense of the subject matter and mood of the poem.

2. Reread the sonnet aloud and look at the footnotes.  Make notes in the text of the poem to help you remember what the footnotes indicate.

3. Reread the sonnet aloud again—really listen to it.

Stage 2: Understanding

1. What is the subject of the poem? (e.g. life, death, love, lust, loss, marriage, beauty, poetry, etc.)

2. What is the dominant mood or tone of the poem? (e.g. does it sound joyful, sorrowful, angry, pious, mocking, awestruck, admiring, etc. )

3. Who is the audience or receiver of the sonnet? 1. The poet himself (or his soul or mind); 2. His friend or lover; 3. His mistress (the “dark haired lady”); 4. A rival poet.

4. What is your initial impression of the sonnet’s meaning/message/argument? (in other words, in one sentence, describe the point the speaker is making or the question he is asking in the sonnet)

Stage 3: Probing Deeper

1.        With a pen, draw three lines: one between quatrains 1 &2; one between quatrains 2&3; one between quatrain 3 & the couplet. 

2.        Reread aloud quatrain #1.  What specific idea, question, or point does the author seem to be pointing to?

3.        Reread aloud quatrain #2.  What specific idea, question, or point does the author seem to be pointing to?  What is said in this quatrain that is different from what was said in quatrain #1?

4.        Reread aloud quatrain #3.  What specific idea, question, or point does the author seem to be pointing to?  What is said in this quatrain that is different from what was said in the previous quatrains?

5.        Reread the couplet aloud.  What does it say?  Does it offer a “turn” from the preceding 12 lines?  Does it summarize the poem?  Does it resolve the central conflict of the poem?

Stage 4: Reflecting

1. Reread the entire sonnet aloud, and listen to it.  Sense its rhythm and rhyme, and try to find the “units of meaning”—units of meaning are groups of words or lines that express a distinct idea. 

2. What metaphors are used in the sonnet?  How do these metaphors create a “mood” in the sonnet and reflect the speaker attitude to the ideas in sonnet?

3. What is beautiful or artistic in the sonnet?  Think of images, turns of phrase, rhyming, etc.

4. What “life-lesson” or “truth” or “eternal question” does the sonnet offer?