Sonnet 150
Sonnet 150 | |||||||
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Sonnet 150 is one of
Structure
Sonnet 150 is an English or Shakespearean sonnet. The English sonnet has three quatrains, followed by a final rhyming couplet. It follows the typical rhyme scheme of the form ABAB CDCD EFEF GG and is composed in iambic pentameter, a type of poetic metre based on five pairs of metrically weak/strong syllabic positions. The 12th line exemplifies a regular iambic pentameter:
× / × / × / × / × / With others thou shouldst not abhor my state: (150.12)
- / = ictus, a metrically strong syllabic position. × = nonictus.
The 5th line (potentially) begins with a common metrical variant, an initial reversal; and it ends with the rightward movement of the fourth ictus (resulting in a four-position figure, × × / /
, sometimes referred to as a minor ionic):
/ × × / × / × × / / Whence hast thou this becoming of things ill, (150.5)
Lines 1, 8, and 11 also potentially have initial reversals, and line 3 has a minor ionic.
The meter demands that line 1's "power" function as one syllable, and "powerful" as two.[3]
Notes
- OCLC 4770201.
- ^ Michael R. G. Spiller. The Development of the Sonnet: An Introduction.
- ^ Booth 2000, p. 128.
References
- First edition and facsimile
- Shakespeare, William (1609). Shake-speares Sonnets: Never Before Imprinted. London: Thomas Thorpe.
- OCLC 458829162.
- Variorum editions
- OCLC 234756.
- Modern critical editions
- Atkins, Carl D., ed. (2007). Shakespeare's Sonnets: With Three Hundred Years of Commentary. Madison: OCLC 86090499.
- OCLC 2968040.
- Burrow, Colin, ed. (2002). The Complete Sonnets and Poems. OCLC 48532938.
- OCLC 32272082.
- OCLC 15018446.
- Mowat, Barbara A.; Werstine, Paul, eds. (2006). Shakespeare's Sonnets & Poems. OCLC 64594469.
- OCLC 46683809.
- OCLC 36806589.