Shakespearean vs.

Petrarchan Sonnets
Instructions:
A. Compare and contrast the differences between a Petrarchan sonnet vs.
a Shakespearean sonnet.
B. Some things that youll need to know before you start this assignment
are: If the sonnet is going to be in the English form, the logical

progression of thought should be as follows: the first 12 lines

develop the main idea, and the last 2 lines (a rhymed couplet)
give the conclusion. The Italian (Petrarchan) form, the pattern
should be thus: The first 8 lines develop the main idea, and the
last 6 lines give the conclusion. Italian (Petrarchan) rhyme
scheme: abba cddc efg efg. Shakespearean: abab cdcd efef gg

C. Read the following Petrarchan Sonnet and Shakespearean Sonnet

http://www.cranberrydesigns.com/poetry/sonnet/examples.htm
D. Answer the questions below using evidence from the text to support
each of your answers.

Petrarchan Sonnet
A Game of Chess
To John Brodie
By Gwen Harwood

Nightfall: the towns chromatic nocturne wakes a

Dark brilliance on the river; colours drift b
And tremble as enormous shadows lift b
Orion to his place. The heart remakes a
That peace torn in the blaze of day. Inside c
Your room are music, warmth and wine, the board d
With chessmen set for play. The harpsichord d
Begins a fugue; delight is multiplied. c

A game: the hearts impossible ideal- e

To choose among a host of paths, and know f

That if the kingdom crumbles one can yield g
And have the choice again. Abstract and real e
joined in their trance of thought, two players show f
the calm of gods above a troubled field. g

Harwood, Gwen. A Game of Chess. Patterns in Poetry, 2012.

http://www.cranberrydesigns.com/poetry/sonnet/examples.htm. Pg. 3

Shakespearean Sonnet
Shall I compare thee to a summers day? Sonnet 18
By William Shakespeare
Shall I compare thee to a summers day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summers lease hath all too short a date:
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimmd;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance, or natures changing course, untrimmd;
But they eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest;
Nor shall Death brag thou wanderst in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou growest;
So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

Shakespeare, William. Shall I compare thee to a summers day? Sonnet 18.

Patterns in Poetry, 2012.
http://www.cranberrydesigns.com/poetry/sonnet/examples.htm. Pg. 3

Questions
1.What is the rhyme scheme of the Shakespearean poem and the Petrarchan poem?
Label each accordingly.
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2. What does the difference between the rhyme schemes do to the poems? How
does it make them different? How does it make them the same?
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3. What is the main idea and conclusion of the Shakespearean poem? Use
examples from the text to explain your meaning.
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4. What is the main idea and conclusion of the Shakespearean poem? Use
examples from the text to explain your meaning.
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5. The main idea is the first 12 lines of a Shakespearean poem and the last two are
the conclusion. What affect does that have on the poem? Use examples from the
text to back up your reasoning.
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6. The main idea is the first 8 lines of a Petrarchan poem and the last 6 are the

conclusion. What affect does that have on the poem? Use examples from the text
to back up your reasoning.
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7. Which of the two types of writing would you rather read and why? Use examples
from the text to back up your reasoning.
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