English 2230F/G Lecture Notes - Lecture 11: Shakespeare'S Sonnets, Sonnet 18, Iambic Tetrameter

• School: Western University
• Department: English
• Course: English 2230F/G
• Professor: Allan Pero

Document Summary

Petrarchan sonnet: 14 lines, octave (abba, abba) and a sestet (cde, cde or cd, cd, cd) There is a break between the octave and sestet (a volta turn) Poetry itself is based on a kind of turning. Verse refers to a turning of thought. A sonnet turns upon a paricular idea or object, trying to explore its problems, diiculies, and implicaions. Someimes a sonnet can seem didacic (trying to teach us something), and someimes you are trying to make an argument that atempts to pose an answer to a quesion (paricularly with shakespeare) Syllogism there is a major premise, a minor premise, and a conclusion. Shakespeare isn"t necessarily syllogisic the conclusion doesn"t necessarily follow from the major and minor premise: is it that shakespeare isn"t good at syllogism, or is he trying to do something else? (probably the later. ) Shakespearean sonnet: abba, abba; ef, ef, g, g, there are only 3 excepions in shakespeare"s 154 sonnets.