Breaking Down the Bard - Sonnets

If you've ever wondered what a sonnet is, I'm gonna break it down for you right now!

Simply put, a sonnet is a type of poem, following a set structure. There are many kinds of sonnets (which this Wikipedia article details). It doesn't necessarily have to be about love, but a lot of them are, because love is a wonderfully rich and complicated topic! We're going to look at the type of sonnet Shakespeare is famous for, called the English Sonnet, the Elizabethan* Sonnet, or the Shakespearean Sonnet.

*Elizabeth I was Queen of England during much of Shakespeare's life, and he wrote many plays and poems during the Elizabethan era.

 

 

The basic structure for this type of sonnet is three quatrains and a couplet - click the links if you missed those or need a reminder. This type of sonnet is typically in iambic pentameter and has a total of fourteen lines. One way to think of the rhyme scheme is this:

- - - - - - - - A

- - - - - - - - B

- - - - - - - - A

- - - - - - - - B

- - - - - - - - - C

- - - - - - - - - D

- - - - - - - - - C

- - - - - - - - - D

- - - - - - - - - - E

- - - - - - - - - - F

- - - - - - - - - - E

- - - - - - - - - - F

- - - - - - - - - - - G

- - - - - - - - - - - G

Let's look at Sonnet 91:

 

 

And here's the same sonnet, but I've shown where the quatrains and the couplet each start and end:

 

 

In the first quatrain, we see that "skill" in the first line rhymes with "ill" in the third line, and "force" in the second line rhymes with "horse" in the fourth. This is contrasted by the couplet that ends the sonnet, where two lines immediately rhyme with each other, "take" and "make".

Another noteworthy Sonnet by Shakespeare is in Romeo and Juliet. The very first time the young lovers speak to each other, they share lines that form a sonnet! Check it out:

 

 

Here, I've marked the structure so that you can easily see the Sonnet form that's hidden in Act I, Scene 5:

 

 

I think it's really cool that Shakespeare had his two star-crossed lovers so on the same page that they could improvise a Sonnet together at their very first meeting!

Shakespeare is not the only person to try his hand at the Elizabethan Sonnet - in fact, many others did, too - but he wrote at least 154 of them, and now you know what makes them tick!

What's your favorite sonnet? Let me know in the comments!

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Breaking Down the Bard - Couplets

There are two main styles of poetic rhyming that we find in Shakespeare's verse: couplets and quatrains. Being able to easily and quickly identify them will make you look like an absolute rock star in any cold-reading audition, and give you opportunities for some really fun choices.

Today, we're going to look at couplets, sometimes called "rhyming couplets" (which is redundant, but whatever), or "heroic couplets". A couplet is where the endings of two lines of verse in a row rhyme with each other. For example:

Helena (A Midsummer Night's Dream)

Wherefore was I to this keen mockery born?

When at your hand did I deserve such scorn?

Claudius (Hamlet)

My words fly up, my thoughts remain below.

Words without thoughts never to heaven go.

Luciana (The Comedy of Errors)

Gaze when you should, and that will clear your sight.

Antipholus of Syracuse

As good to wink, sweet love, as look on night.

See that? "Born" rhymes with "scorn", "below" with "go", and "sight" with "night". 

Characters can speak in pairs of couplets at length in a monologue - the above couplet of Helena's is from a longer speech of couplets.

Couplets are sometimes used to indicate the end of a scene, or before a shift in the action, like the couplet from Hamlet's Claudius. The scene is mostly rhyme-free, but given a nice "button" with couplets right at the end.

Other times, couplets are shared throughout the scene and among characters. This can be a lot of fun to play with, as it could mean that the characters are on the same level, and in agreement, or sparring, kind of like a rap battle, or that they're in love. Looking at a few additional lines from the same scene of The Comedy of Errors demonstrates this type of back-and-forth.

Luciana

What, are you mad that you do reason so?

Antipholus of Syracuse

Not mad, but mated - how, I do not know.

Luciana

It is a fault that springeth from your eye.

Antipholus of Syracuse

For gazing on your beams, fair sun, being by.

Luciana

Gaze when you should, and that will clear your sight.

Antipholus of Syracuse

As good to wink, sweet love, as look on night.

Luciana

Why call you me love? Call my sister so.

Antipholus of Syracuse 

Thy sister's sister.

Luciana

              That's my sister.

Antipholus of Syracuse 

                              No;

The scene continues, with Antipholus trying to woo Luciana, but did you see that exquisite shared line of verse just now? Thy sister's sister. / That's my sister. / No; is all one line of verse, rhyming with the previous line: Why call you me love? Call my sister so. I think this could be really hot in performance, as the pace seems to quicken!

Next week on Breaking Down the Bard: Quatrains!

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