4 Types of Sonnet

Italian

· The Italian sonnet is divided into two sections by two different groups of rhyming sounds. The first 8 lines is called the octave and rhymes: a b b a a b b a

· The remaining 6 lines is called the sestet and can have either two or three rhyming sounds, arranged in a variety of ways: c d c d c d, c d d c d c, c d e c d e, c d e c e d, c d c e d c

Example:

"London, 1802"

Milton! thou shouldst be living at this hour:

England hath need of thee: she is a fen

Of stagnant waters: altar, sword, and pen,

Fireside, the heroic wealth of hall and bower,

Have forfeited their ancient English dower

Of inward happiness. We are selfish men;

Oh! raise us up, return to us again;

And give us manners, virtue, freedom, power.

Thy soul was like a Star, and dwelt apart;

Thou hadst a voice whose sound was like the sea:

Pure as the naked heavens, majestic, free,

So didst thou travel on life's common way,

In cheerful godliness; and yet thy heart

The lowliest duties on herself did lay.

English

· The English sonnet has the simplest and most flexible pattern of all sonnets, consisting of 3 quatrains of alternating rhyme and a couplet:

· a b a b

· c d c d

· e f e f

· g g

· As in the Spenserian, each quatrain develops a specific idea, but one closely related to the ideas in the other quatrains.

Example:

"Sonnet XXIX"

When in disgrace with Fortune and men's eyes,

I all alone beweep my outcast state,

And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries,

And look upon myself and curse my fate,

Wishing me like to one more rich in hope,

Featured like him, like him with friends possessed,

Desiring this man's art and that man's scope,

With what I most enjoy contented least,

Yet in these thoughts my self almost despising,

Haply I think on thee, and then my state,

(Like to the lark at break of day arising

From sullen earth) sings hymns at heaven's gate,

For thy sweet love remembered such wealth brings,

That then I scorn to change my state with kings.

Spencerian

· The Spenserian sonnet, invented by Edmund Spenser as an outgrowth of the stanza pattern he used in The Faerie Queene (a b a b b c b c c), has the pattern:

a b a b b c b c c d c d e e

· Here, the "abab" pattern sets up distinct four-line groups, each of which develops a specific idea; however, the overlapping a, b, c, and d rhymes form the first 12 lines into a single unit with a separated final couplet. The three quatrains then develop three distinct but closely related ideas, with a different idea (or commentary) in the couplet.

Example:

"Sonnet LIV"

Of this World's theatre in which we stay,

My love like the Spectator idly sits,

Beholding me, that all the pageants play,

Disguising diversely my troubled wits.

Sometimes I joy when glad occasion fits,

And mask in mirth like to a Comedy;

Soon after when my joy to sorrow flits,

I wail and make my woes a Tragedy.

Yet she, beholding me with constant eye,

Delights not in my mirth nor rues my smart;

But when I laugh, she mocks: and when I cry

She laughs and hardens evermore her heart.

What then can move her? If nor mirth nor moan,

She is no woman, but a senseless stone.

Hybrid

· combines the structure of the Petrarchan sonnet with the rhyme scheme of a Shakespearean sonnet except for lines 11 and 12. (The rhyme scheme of Shakespeare's sonnets is ABAB, CDCD, EFEF, GG; the rhyme scheme of Owen's poem is ABAB, CDCD, EFFE, GG.

Example

“Anthem for Doomed Youth”

What passing-bells for these who die as cattle?

Only the monstrous anger of the guns.

Only the stuttering rifles' rapid rattle

Can patter out their hasty orisons.

No mockeries now for them; no prayers nor bells;

Nor any voice of mourning save the choirs, –

The shrill, demented choirs of wailing shells;

And bugles calling for them from sad shires.

What candles may be held to speed them all?

Not in the hands of boys but in their eyes

Shall shine the holy glimmers of goodbyes.

The pallor of girls' brows shall be their pall;

Their flowers the tenderness of patient minds,

And each slow dusk a drawing-down of blinds.

Existence

Do not venture far from the white light

For walking alone leads to sorrow and death

Fury and wrath ruin the night

Though you think the dark is right

The lightning in life is worth the endeavor

Do not venture far from the white light

Good citizens try to maintain the fight

Their attempted deeds have been misconstrued

Fury and wrath ruin the night

Going into the darkness clouds our sight

We try our best to maintain our elation for life

Do not venture far from the white light

Men near death who see the blinding sight

learning to except what lies ahead

Fury and wrath ruin the night

And you my child are worth the height

For protecting you form this torment

Do not venture far from the white light

Fury and wrath ruin the night

Punk Pantoum

The Punk movement originated in the 1960’s however didn’t become popular until the 1970’s. This movement involved people, basically rebelling and trying to stick it to “the man.” In this poem we are faced with a speaker who is asking his lover to commit suicide with him. Punks can come from any and all walks of life and economic classes. Compared to some alternative cultures, punk is generally associated with treating all genders equally.

In Punk Pantoum a man asks his lover to commit suicide with him. By him asking that of her it makes it seem like he has the power and that he is in control, however it is actually him trying to help them escape from “the man.” If you are “the punk,” then your whole life is about fighting the man,” and if you kill yourself to escape him then you are really sticking it to him. Killing yourself was the only real way you could escape him. Not that it matters but he comes from a rich neighborhood, however he thinks of the people that live on former “Gibson Street,” now known as Eutaw Place are "rats, a severed fetlock, muscle, bone and hooves".

The poem begins and ends in two very different moods or tones. The first line is Tonight I'll walk the razor along your throat and the last is Tonight, dragging the white-hot razor across our throats and back . . .the switch from walk to dragging indicates change and movement. And at the beginning it says throat which means that he is for sure going to kill himself and he is wanting her to kill herself too. And then the poem ends in throats which means she has decided to kill herself too, so she can also escape “the man” and be with her lover forever.

Mad Girl’s Love Song

Mad Girl’s Love Song by Sylvia Plath is a poem about a girl who spent her whole life waiting for a man she gave herself to, against her beliefs, who was never to return. The most visible device the author used in this book is repetition. One phrase the narrator repeats is “(I think I made you up inside my head).” The emphasis repetition puts on this quote is that the narrator is wishing that this man is made up, and trying to convince herself of it. The quotes signify that these are thoughts to her, and not out loud, which means she is trying to convince herself it is true. The narrator also repeats the line, “I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead.” This, along with the reference to God, Satan, and Seraphim, mean that getting “into bed” with the man the narrator was speaking to was a sin, and therefore they never married. When the narrator tries to sleep, “All the world drops dead,” which could represent nightmares and visions of hell because she feels guilty for her sin. Plath uses repetition to emphasize certain phrases so the reader can decipher the true meaning.

Another device the author uses is personification. In the second stanza the narrator describes “the stars go waltzing out in blue and red, And arbitrary blackness gallops in.” Clearly, stars can not waltz and blackness can’t gallop. Stars “waltzing out” and blackness galloping in are used to describe how they are leaving her without a second thought, self-assured, easily, and quickly, as the man who left her might have done. The narrator continues to say “I should have loved a Thunderbird instead; At least when spring comes they roar back again.” The narrator is giving a car, Thunderbird, the personification of being able to love and return to its lover, as she wished her man had done. The narrator is also relaying the message that the car is a better man and companion than her lover is.

The title has two underlying meanings. One, the girl is mad, or angry, about the love in her life. This is true, because the narrator is very upset that she gave herself to a man who left her. Also, that the girl is mad, or insane, over convincing herself that this lover is “made up” and does not exist. The second thing about this poem that caught my attention is the author, Sylvia Plath, who is extremely emotional and troubled.

A villanelle is often used, and properly used, to deal with one or another degree of obsession. This is demonstrated when she is having to repeat the line I think I made you up inside my head. That also backs up the idea that she is crazy and possibly insane.

5 Types of Rhythm

Iamb

· A metrical foot consisting of one short (or unstressed) syllable followed by one long (or stressed) syllable.

· The she is well and nothing can be ill.

· Then she is well and noth-ing can be ill

Trochee

· A foot consisting of one long or stressed syllable followed by one short or unstressed syllable.

· Booth led boldly with his big bass drum

· Booth led boldly with his big bass drum

Anapest

· A metrical foot consisting of two short or unstressed syllables followed by one long or stressed syllable.

· In the blink of an eye

Dactyl

· A metrical foot consisting of one stressed syllable followed by two unstressed syllables.

· Half a League, Half a League, Half a League, onward

· Half a League, Half a League, Half a League, onward

Spondee

· a foot consisting of two long (or stressed) syllables.

· White founts falling in the courts of the sun

And the Soldan of Byzantium is smiling as they run

· White founts falling in the courts of the sun 
And the Soldan of Byzantium is smiling as they run

God's Grandeur

1) The theme is about the relationship between man, the natural world, and god. The speaker in "God’s Grandeur" proposes that the meaning of life and the purpose of human existence can be discovered through nature. He looks deeply at the natural world, and doesn’t hold back his or her contempt for the ways in which people and their industries have treated nature. Yet, Hopkins claims that the consequences of this treatment, is only on the surface. The speaker is telling us about his or her religious visions as well. The speaker sees God as intimately connected to the earth.

2) The first four lines express the poet's excitement in realizing the world is filled with God's power. God’s Grandeur means God’s magnificence or glory. The word "charged" in line one suggests electricity; its association and sound suggest the world crackles with energy. The second line furthers this effect by comparing his energy to "like shining from shook foil," to its reflection, light and sound. Here there is an implied comparison to lightning. Line three could be suggesting another way of perceiving God's power: slow accumulations of conscious actions like the collection of drops of oil as they are pressed from olives or seeds.

a. In lines 7-8 they are talking about degrading nature. Line seven uses the word smudge refers to how man is ruining beauty and nature by “smudging” it. Soil is bare now is referring to the lack of vegetation which refers to man’s pollution of nature.

b. lines 11-12 are symbolizing the changing of seasons I think. Brown brink means that they are on the brink, or edge, of brown, meaning soil or spring.

3)

a. Reck his rod. This is ultimately saying recognize God’s authority. It says then now which means that men then use to recognize it, but now men are aware of it but don’t really care.

b. Spent. They say that nature is never spent, which is the main thesis of the poem.

c. Bent. The bent world is referring to how man’s corrupt world. Usually when things are the way they were intended to be you could say that they are on a straight path, but because of man’s corruption, they are now on a bent path.

4)

a. Alliteration: God’s Grandeur; flame, foil; reck, rod; shining, shook; greatness, gathers; last, lights; and brown, brink.

b. Consonance, assonance and internal rhyme – Smeared, seared, bleared.

Traveling through the dark

1) while driving down a narrow road he hits a pregnant deer and he is faced with the decision of whether or not to push it over the canyon with the rest of the road kill or not. He sat in his car for a while and weighed to pros and cons but then decided to do the responsible thing and pull her off the road so there aren’t any more accidents. And although its sad that the fawn never got to live, its better then the alternative of trying to survive on its own without its mother. The man’s “only swerving” is referring to his hesitation when he realizes the deer is pregnant, he had first planned on just throwing her over into the canyon. When he says “to swerve might make more dead” he is meaning that if he deviates or swerves from his plan then other people will most likely crash and die.

2) The actual title, Traveling through the dark, brings to your mind the sense of sight, it also gives you a time of day from which you can imagine the poem taking place. The dark could also be referring to his judgment which is clouded and unsure when he realizes the deer is pregnant.

3) There is a possible rhyme between line 14 with red and 16 with listen. And on lines 11 at the beginning of line with alive and on line 12 with beside. And in the forth stanza engine and listen both end in the same sound.