Webquest

SONNETS

8 Grade
th

English Eric Davis

Introduction
During this assignment, you will be learning about different forms of sonnets. You will learn how to write a sonnet of your own, using the proper rhyme and meter.

Task
1) Read through the various sources of information provided. Learn how to recognize a sonnet that is Petrarchan, Shakespearean, or Spenserian. Learn the parts and layout of sonnets, the rhyme schemes (and variants) of sonnets, and the rhythmic structure of sonnets.

Sonnet forms: http://poemshape.wordpress.com/2009/01/11/what-is-shakespearean-spenserian-amppetrarchan-sonnets/

Shakespeares sonnets

(if you want to read more of them)

http://www.shakespeares-sonnets.com/ SERACH THE WEB ON YOUR OWN and find different sonnets of different types from different authors. Type in any obvious criteria (Petrarch + sonnet, Italian sonnet, Spenser + sonnet, Spenserian sonnet, etc.) and you will find a wealth of information. Excellent audio file. Kenneth Brannagh reading When to the sessions of sweet silent thought http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hWVvlZdLTDA&feature=related

2) Read through the various sources of information about rhyme and meter in poetry http://poemshape.wordpress.com/2008/11/30/what-is-iambic-pentameter-the-basics/ rhyme scheme, rhythm, and meter PPT [Search this, as is. I could not add the complete link partial link below] eocweb.rusd.k12.ca.us/Rhyme%20with%20wav%20files/Rhyme... Wikipedia actually has some good information on this. Make sure you focus on the appropriate sections of the article, those related to English poetry http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meter_(poetry)#Metrical_systems See typed information at the bottom of this file (info for Ring Out, Wild Bells lesson)

Process

1) Considering the information youve been given, identify each of the following sonnets as Petrarchan, Shakespearean or Spenserian. SEE ATTACHMENT ONE E-mail or print and submit to teacher.

2) Do the exercise (found at end of this file) entitled An Exercise in Rhythm (using Tennysons poem, Ring Out, Wild Bells). E-mail, or print and submit completed form to teacher. SEE ATTACHMENT TWO

3) On the web, find at least one more sonnet that follows each pattern. Do not use the same sonnets that have been provided as examples. Save these sonnets in a personal file, and label them appropriately. E-mail or print and submit to teacher.

4) Look again at the information from the Ring Out, Wild Bells poem. a) Select one sonnet (that you found for #3), and mark each line of scansion, and each syllable as stressed or unstressed. b) Label the parts of the sonnet (octave and sestet) and show how the sonnet you chose does or does not follow the suggested rules for this division. E-mail or print and submit to teacher.

5) Write a sonnet of your own. You may choose any kind of sonnet you wish. You must make sure you follow the rhyme scheme and have the appropriate rhythmic structure. E-mail or print and submit to teacher.

6) RELAX. And WATCH THIS. ROWN ATKINSON & HUGH LAURIE do SHAKESPEARE. No assignment (other than to relax). Its just funny. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKXQbIBt9C8&feature=related

Evaluation
(process pt 1) (process pt 2) (process pt 3) (process pt 4) Sonnets incorrectly identified correctly indentified graded w/ percentage (0 100%/0 correctly marked Exercise in Rhythm worksheet Sonnet Sonnets incorrectly marked

Incorrect sonnets found, and labeled incorrectly Correct sonnets found, but labeled incorrectly Correct sonnets found, labeled correctly

(PROCESS PART 5)

WRITING AN ORIGINAL SONNET

Consistency did not write in the correct form followed pattern, w/ errors followed pattern properly Rhythm

made no effort at having a rhythmic structure some effort put forth, but rhythm not correct very good use of rhythm, few errors perfect rhythmic structure Form Improper rhyme scheme No recognizable octave or sestet Parts of sonnet do not perform appropriate function proper rhyme scheme recognizable octave or sestet Parts of sonnet perform appropriate function

Spelling, Grammar & Punctuation Many errors few errors no errors Literary Quality Low quality (no effort) fair good excellent

Information Sources
http://poemshape.wordpress.com/2009/01/11/what-is-shakespearean-spenserian-amp-petrarchansonnets/ http://www.shakespeares-sonnets.com/ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hWVvlZdLTDA&feature=related http://poemshape.wordpress.com/2008/11/30/what-is-iambic-pentameter-the-basics/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meter_(poetry)#Metrical_systems http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKXQbIBt9C8&feature=related http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/16131 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzJb8QDXmxU

Conclusion
You have learned to identify and analyze the chief characteristics of three different types of sonnets. You have learned about rhyme and meter in poetry. Most importantly, you have learned how to write a sonnet of your very own.

Keep reading! Keep writing!

ATTACHMENT ONE
1) Type of sonnet: ________________________________ ____ The rolling wheel that runneth often round, The hardest steel in tract of time doth tear: And drizling drops that often do redound, The firmest flint doth in continuance wear. Yet cannot I, with many a dropping tear, And long entreaty, soften her hard heart: That she will once vouchsafe my plaint to hear, Or look with pity on my painful smart. But when I plead, she bids me play my part, And when I weep, she says tears are but water: And when I sigh, she says I know the art, And when I wail she turns herself to laughter. So do I weep, and wail, and plead in vain, Whiles she as steel and flint doth still remain. 2) Type of sonnet: ________________________________ ____ Betwixt mine eye and heart a league is took, And each doth good turns now unto the other: When that mine eye is famish'd for a look, Or heart in love with sighs himself doth smother, With my love's picture then my eye doth feast, And to the painted banquet bids my heart; Another time mine eye is my heart's guest, And in his thoughts of love doth share a part: So, either by thy picture or my love, Thy self away, art present still with me; For thou not farther than my thoughts canst move, And I am still with them, and they with thee; Or, if they sleep, thy picture in my sight Awakes my heart, to heart's and eyes' delight 3) Type of sonnet: ________________________________ ____
Those eyes, 'neath which my passionate rapture rose, The arms, hands, feet, the beauty that erewhile Could my own soul from its own self beguile, And in a separate world of dreams enclose, The hair's bright tresses, full of golden glows,

Are now but dust, poor dust, that nothing knows. And yet I live! Myself I grieve and scorn, Left dark without the light I loved in vain, Adrift in tempest on a bark forlorn; Dead is the source of all my amorous strain, Dry is the channel of my thoughts outworn, And my sad harp can sound but notes of pain. 4) Type of sonnet: ________________________________ ____ Mine eye hath played the painter and hath steeled, Thy beauty's form in table of my heart; My body is the frame wherein 'tis held, And perspective that is best painter's art. For through the painter must you see his skill, To find where your true image pictured lies, Which in my bosom's shop is hanging still, That hath his windows glazed with thine eyes. Now see what good turns eyes for eyes have done: Mine eyes have drawn thy shape, and thine for me Are windows to my breast, where-through the sun Delights to peep, to gaze therein on thee; Yet eyes this cunning want to grace their art, They draw but what they see, know not the heart 5) Type of sonnet: ________________________________ ____
Oft have I seen at some cathedral door A laborer, pausing in the dust and heat, Lay down his burden, and with reverent feet Enter, and cross himself, and on the floor Kneel to repeat his paternoster o'er; Far off the noises of the world retreat; The loud vociferations of the street Become an undistinguishable roar. So, as I enter here from day to day, And leave my burden at this minster gate, Kneeling in prayer, and not ashamed to pray,

And the soft lightning of the angelic smile That changed this earth to some celestial isle,

The tumult of the time disconsolate

To inarticulate murmurs dies away, While the eternal ages watch and wait.

ATTACHMENT TWO

An Exercise in Rhythm
RING OUT, WILD BELLS
Consider the terms below. Foot- the metrical unit in poetry, consisting of one accented syllable and one or more unaccented syllables Iamb - unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable Tetra - four Meter - the sequence of relationships of stressed and unstressed syllables in a line Tetrameter - four feet Scansion division of a line into its metrical feet ( | ) Quatrain a stanza consisting of four lines Rhyme Scheme a poems pattern of rhyme (denoted using letters of the alphabet ABAB, ABBA, etc.) What is the rhyme scheme of the excerpt below? __________________________________________ Draw vertical ( | ) lines (scansion) between the feet of the following lines of verse. Your definition of tetrameter will help you determine the number of lines you will need to draw. Once you have divided each line, mark each accented and unaccented syllables.

IF YOU LIKE,
You can find the full text in your textbook, or here: http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/16131 There is a video of a choir singing this poem at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzJb8QDXmxU