how do you read a sonnet?

Question

There is a special way to read a sonnet besides just reading it normaly. Can someone help me?

Answer 1

1. Structurally: Look at stanzaic formation, rhythm, rhyme and number o flines. You will usually run into Shakespearean (Elizabethan), Petrarchan (Italian), or Spenserian sonnets. As for rhytm pattern, it is most usually iambic pentameter (five iambs, i.e. unstressed-stressed groups of twio syllables):
Example: Shall-I-Com-pare-thee-to-a-Sum-mer's-Day?

2. Content-wise: Most of the time (Especially with Elizabethan Sonnets), every stanza deals with a specific,m closed topic, to be concluded at the end. For example, a sonnet by Shakespeare will ALWAYS have three quatrains (four-line stanzas), each dealing with a specific, yet interrelated topic, and closes with a rhyming couplet (2-line stanza) which provides a conclusion to the whole theme; this schema is repeated all over his 154 sonnets.

3. Aesthetically: Read open-heartedly! Always axpecting to deal with the most inner nerve-shaking human feelings and topics... ENJOY YOUR READING!

Answer 2

In a traditional Sonnet:


There are 14 lines.

The poet introduces at least one volta (or a jump or shift in direction of the emotions or thought), usually somewhat after the middle of the Sonnet.

If the poet writes in the form of the Sicilian Sonnet, Italian (or Petrarchan) Sonnet, or French Sonnet, she begins with an octave and concludes with a sestet. She places the volta between the octave and the sestet. She may indicate the volta by a stanza break.

In English, we are especially familiar with the English (or Shakespearean) Sonnet and the Spenserian Sonnet. In both, the poet groups lines in three quatrains followed by a closing rhymed couplet. She places a shift (a more subtle change than the volta) between the second and third quatrains.

In addition to the above, the English (or Shakespearean) Sonnet:
Has an alternating rhyme scheme in the quatrains (e.g., "a b a b").
Has a turn between the third quatrain and the concluding couplet. Often this marks a change from the presentation of images and the building of a case (in the quatrains). After the turn, the poet often states a conclusion, sometimes the "meaning" or "purpose" of the poem.
Often has its greatest power in the concluding couplet.

Meanwhile, the Spenserian Sonnet (in addition to features shared with the English (or Shakespearean) Sonnet) has an envelope or kissing rhyme, "abba".

The original Sicilian Sonnet arrived in the early thirteenth century at the Sicilian court of Frederick II. The Sicilian Sonnet has an octave of rima alternata ("alternating rhyme"). In the initial version, the same word was repeated instead of new words being introduced in rhyme.

Answer 3

the correct way to read a sonnet is dancing the spanish hornpipe in a semi circle getting progressively faster and fater until you collapse in an fit on the last syllable. someone has to be singing it as you do this

Answer 4

Use voice inflection and tone to give meaning.

Follow the punctuation, not the line breaks.

Answer 5

As with any poem savor and appriciate every word....