1 of 13

The Sonnet

Romeo and Juliet

2 of 13

The Prologue

  • What do you remember from the Prologue? (9 main events)
    • Two houses (families) are fighting
    • This takes place in Verona
    • Recently the fight broke out stronger
    • People are getting hurt
    • 2 of the enemies fall in love (star-crossed)
    • The lovers kill themselves
    • The deaths of the two are the only thing that can end the feud
    • The play is 2 hours
    • If anything was missed in the prologue, you’ll find it all out throughout the play

3 of 13

Poetry vs. Prose

  • What is Poetry?
    • Concentrated language that often incorporates figurative language, meter, and rhyme.

  • What is Prose?
    • Prose is any writing that is not poetry.

  • Is the Prologue poetry or prose?

4 of 13

Poetry

  • End Stopped Line: A line of poetry that has some punctuation at the end so the reader knows the meaning is completed.

  • Run on line: A line of poetry that has no punctuation, or the punctuation connects ideas to the line (or lines) that follow.

5 of 13

To pause or not to pause?

  • “Two households both alike in dignity,� In fair Verona, where we lay our scene.�From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,� Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.”

End Stopped

Run-on

???

???

6 of 13

Iambic Pentameter

  • A line of poetry that contains 5 iambs, metrical feet.

  • An iamb includes an unstressed syllable and a stressed syllable - U/

  • Iambic Pentameter – U/U/U/U/U/

  • In other words, it is a line of poetry that has 10 syllables. It’s 5 sets of 2 syllables. Each set is U/(unstressed/stressed)

7 of 13

Stressed/unstressed

  • “Yankee Doodle went to town ‘a riding on a pony.�

Stuck a feather in his cap and called it macaroni.”

8 of 13

The Sonnet

  • 14 lines of iambic pentameter following the following rhyme scheme:

ABAB CDCD EFEF GG

The Prologue is an example of a Sonnet

9 of 13

Rhyme Scheme

  • The pattern of rhymes in a poem.

  • “Two households both alike in dignity, A� In fair Verona, where we lay our scene. B�From ancient grudge break to new mutiny, A� Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.” B

  • Label the Rhyme Scheme in the Prologue
    • ABAB CDCD EFEF GG

10 of 13

Quatrain Vs. Couplet

  • Quatrain: A group of 4 lines together in a Sonnet. Typically follows an ABAB rhyme Scheme
    • “Two households both alike in dignity, A� In fair Verona, where we lay our scene. B�From ancient grudge break to new mutiny, A� Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.” B
  • Couplet: Two lines in a row that rhyme
    • “To which is patient ears attend, � What here shall miss our toil shall strive to mend.

  • A Sonnet has 3 quatrains and a couplet
  • Label each quatrain and the couplet in the Prologue

11 of 13

Two households both alike in dignity, A

In fair Verona, where we lay our scene. B

From ancient grudge break to new mutiny, A

Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean. B

From forth the fatal loins of these two foes C

A pair of star-crossed lovers take their life, D

Whose misadventure piteous overthrows C

Doth with their death bury their parents’ strife. D

The fearful passage of their death-marked love, E

And the continuance of their parents’ rage, F

Which, but their children’s end, naught could remove, E

Is now the two hours’ traffic of our stage, F

The which if you with patient ears attend, G

What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend. G

1st Quatrain

2nd Quatrain

3rd Quatrain

Couplet

12 of 13

  • Each line of an Elizabethan Sonnet is written in Iambic Pentameter.
      • How many syllables are in each line?
        • 10
      • What is an Iamb?
        • Two syllables together: the first unstressed and the second stressed.
        • How many Iambs are in a line of a Sonnet?
          • 5
  • Label in the first two lines of the Prologue

U / U / U / U / U /

Two, households both alike in dignity,

13 of 13

Recap!

  • What type of poem is the Prologue?

  • How many lines are in a sonnet?

  • What type of meter is a sonnet written in? (hint: duh dum duh dum)

  • What is the rhyme scheme of a sonnet?

  • What is a couplet?

  • Where is the setting of Rome and Juliet?

  • What is the conflict?

  • What solves the conflict?