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Type 1: the Petrarchan sonnet

Structure:
an octave (an eight-line stanza) followed by an sestet (a six-line stanza)


Rhyme scheme:
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And every fair from fair sometime declines

“Every fair” in this line means “all the beautiful things” and the second “fair” in the phrase “from fair” means
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Nor shall death brag thou wander'st in his shade

“brag” means “boast”, and “his shade” means “the shade of death.”

In classical literature the shade of death flitted helplessly in

Rhyme scheme
the rhyme scheme interconnects the sound of the three
quatrains: abab bcbc cdcd ee
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Textual study: sonnet 18

darling buds of May - the beautiful, much loved buds of the early summer; favorite flowers.
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And summer's lease hath all too short a date

What is the structure? What is the meter like? What is its rhyme scheme?

What is the theme of this sonnet?
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Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?

Rhyme scheme
abab cdcd efef gg
Note
Shakespeare wrote 154 sonnets. The first 126 sonnets are dedicated to a young man; sonnets 127—152 are dedicated to a “dark lady”, and the final two are allegorical.

“Thee” in this line means “you”. The sonnet begins with a question: how can I compare you to a summer’s
day? And the answer to the question follows up in the next
through his verse.
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Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st

ow'st = ownest, possess. Your eternal summer will not lose its hold on that beauty which you so richly possess. Nor shall you lose any of your beauty.
abbaabba cdecde or: abbaabba cdcdcd
Note:
This type of sonnet is constructed with a change of thought or turn between the octave and the sestet, so that the content and the form are allied.
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Type 2: the Shakespearean sonnet

Structure
three quatrains (a four-line stanza) followed by a couplet (a pair of rhymed lines)
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Type 3: the Spenserian sonnet

Structure
three quatrains and a couplet, and the couplet introduces
new rhyme sounds to the poem

A sonnet is a fourteen-line poem in iambic pentameter.
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Types of Sonnet

There are mainly three types of sonnet:
– The Italian (Petrarchan) sonnet – The English (Shakespearean, Elizabethan) sonnet – The Spenserian sonnet
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And often is his gold complexion dimmed

his gold complexion = his (the sun's) golden face, the golden sunshine. Quite often, the sunshine will be dimmed. When? -- when it is cloudy or overcast.

lines give the answer:
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Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May

Today, the month of “May” may be considered as a month in late spring, but in Shakespeare’s time, May was a summer month, because the calendar in use lagged behind the true sidereal calendar by at least a fortnight.

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But thy eternal summer shall not fade

“Thy eternal summer” refers forwards to the eternity promised by the ever living poet in the next few lines,
They all decline from perfection.”
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By chance, or nature's changing course untrimmed

“By chance” means “by chance accidents” “By nature’s changing course” means “by the fluctuating tides of nature”. The fluctuating times of nature are not subject to control, so the poet says “nature's changing course untrimmed”. The word “untrimmed” in this line is ambiguous – this can refer to the ballast (trimming) on a ship which keeps it stable; or to a lack of ornament and decoration.
William Shakespeare (2): Sonnet

Sonnet: a definition Types of sonnet Textual study:
– Sonnet 18 – Sonnet 29
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Sonnet: a definition
“the previous state of beauty”. This line tells us that
“all of the beautiful things occasionally become inferior