Episode 2 - What is a Sonnet?

Hello Shakespearians and welcome to The Sonnets Podcast.  This is Episode 2: What is a Sonnet?  In this episode, I’m going to give you the tools necessary to better understand my podcast.  I will give you an overview of how sonnets work and I’ll also fill you in on important vocabulary and methodology.  Yes, it is a little scientific, but there’s no way around that.  Having said that, I think it’s still a fun episode.  However, before we start, I want to remind you that my email is sonnetspodcast@gmail.com and the website is sonnetspodcast.com.  All the transcripts are posted there.  So, if you prefer to read this, go to the website.

So, let’s get started: what is a sonnet?  If you have no idea how to answer that question, I suggest you go online and google “what is a sonnet?”  Read up on the basics and come back.  This podcast is meant to be listener friendly, but I’m also going to assume you have some prior knowledge of what a sonnet is.  So, if you need to study up, go do your homework.  It’ll take you about 10 minutes, 20 tops, and then you’ll be ready to continue with this episode.

However, for those of you who just need a quick refresher, a sonnet is a fourteen line poem.  The first twelve lines consist of three four line quatrains and the final two lines form a couplet.  There’s also rhyme and meter, but I will basically never talk about these things because this podcast is focused on ideas.

A sonnet is more than just fourteen lines though.  It follows a preset formula.  The first eight lines typically introduce an idea or they are two ideas that work together.  Then, line 9 introduces the turn.  This is where the poem changes.  There isn’t really a rule for how a sonnet will change after the turn, except that it must happen.  If the third quatrain is basically an extension of the first two, it’s probably a weak poem.  The final two lines at the end compose the couplet.  The couplet is very flexible with unlimited possibilities.  The couplet can refute or affirm any part of the poem.  It can summarize the entire sonnet or go in a completely new direction.  The limits of a couplet are merely the imagination of the writer.

So, eight lines.  That’s idea one.  Then, the turn.  That’s idea number two.  And finally, the couplet which can basically be anything.  This format is rigid, which makes it challenging, but perfect execution can lead to an amazing poem.  As an example, let’s look at a sonnet you surely know: Sonnet 18, Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?

Let’s examine this poem structurally and summarize it - Quatrain 1 or Q1: You are more beautiful than a summer’s day.  Q2: Sometimes, summer days are overrated.  Q3: The summer of your youth will last forever.  Couplet: This poem will live forever as a testament to your beauty.  As you can tell, the first eight lines are about a summer’s day.  The turn focuses on immortality and the couplet highlights the timelessness of the poem.  

This is perfect sonnet writing.  Not just the words themselves, but also the way the ideas are formulaically plugged into a preset format.  It’s crucial that you understand how this formula works.  Shakespeare doesn’t just use this format for his individual sonnets, he also uses it for nine of the eleven sections in his Secret Structure.  So, for example, Sonnets 1-14 will function the same way that I just described for “Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer’s Day?”  Sonnets 1-8 are idea one,  Sonnets 9-12 are a new idea, and Sonnets 13 and 14 form a couplet.

I know this might be challenging if you’ve never looked at poetry in this way.  But, it’s important to realize that the sonnet format is incredibly flexible.  Let me give you some examples.  And, by the way, these are my creations.  Instead of dissecting full sonnets, I will just focus on the main idea of each quatrain.  Here’s an example of how a love sonnet might be structured thematically.  Q1: I love her.  Q2: She’s awesome.  Q3:  She doesn’t love me.  Couplet: I can’t stop thinking about her.

Okay, that sounds like about 1,000 pop songs that I’ve heard in my life.  The flexibility though, of the turn and couplet are what is interesting.  This is how a sonneteer can really elevate their poem, creating one big idea from four separate small ones.  The first eight lines of the poem set the stage, but the last six lines are where the complexity is created.  What does a poet want to say, and how big is their idea?  Well, look at what they do with the turn and the couplet.

Let’s stick with the example we just had: I love her.  She’s awesome.  We’ll use that as Q1 and Q2, and add on to show how flexible the sonnet format is.  Here’s a different take: I love her.  She’s awesome.  Being with her is the best thing that’s ever happened to me.  I want this to last forever.  Or here’s a different example:  I love her.  She’s awesome.  It was just one night.  But, I’ll never forget it.  And a final sample:  I love her.  She’s awesome.  Why did she pick the other guy?  Now, I hate her.

Okay, I could keep going with fifty more examples, but I suspect you get the point.  When a poet starts to write a sonnet, they already need to know their turn and couplet.  They might change their mind, but they’d be crazy to start a sonnet without a plan.

A sonnet is very much a puzzle and a poet had best use the pieces correctly, or else their poem is unlikely to work.  Some listeners might disagree.  They might feel that a poem should be free, and not limited by restrictions.  Sure, that’s fine, but if you feel that way, don’t write sonnets.  Sonnets have rules, patterns, and an unbreakable structure.  If you still disagree, that’s fine but I have some bad news for you.  William the Bard Shakespeare thinks you’re wrong.  Yeah, that guy.  Shakespeare is very deliberate with his sonnet structure. He does it one way.  There’s even a style called the Shakespearean Sonnet.  He wasn’t the first to use it, but it carries his namesake for a reason.

As I hope you’ll see, Shakespeare is a true believer in structure.  He used the same format in all but two of his sonnets.  And, as a playwright, he used the 5 act structure for 37 out of 37 plays.  The dude loved structure, and more importantly, he knew how to use it.  So, let’s connect some dots.  The premise of the podcast is that Shakespeare inserted a Secret Structure into his sonnets.  14x11 is 154.  I believe there are 11 sections of 14 sonnets, and each section of poems works as a sonnet itself.  That means each sonnet functions like a line within a larger sonnet.  I hope I’m not being too repetitive, but this podcast won’t make sense if you don’t understand this idea.

Next, I want to move on to terminology.  If you want to enjoy my podcast, you need to pick up a few terms.  These words really help me explain my ideas, but if you don’t know what they are, you’ll be a little confused.  Right now, you might be annoyed that you have to learn some vocabulary.  However, it’s just a few words, and I think you’ll appreciate them later.

First, you need to know what a “key sonnet” is.  A key sonnet is the first, ninth, thirteen, and fourteen sonnet in each section.  In terms of making the Secret Structure work, these poems do all the heavy lifting.  The first sonnet of each section must start something new.  It has to be a new story or a new idea.  It’s basically the beginning of a new chapter.  Then, the ninth sonnet must function as a turn.  It has to twist the idea started in the first sonnet.  Lastly, Sonnets 13 and 14 of each section must function as a couplet.  They need to work as a team that wraps up the section while also being their own distinct idea.  Then, the sonnet after the fourteenth will be the first sonnet of the next section.

So, key sonnets.  The first, ninth, thirteenth, and fourteenth poem in a section.  I call them key sonnets because they are the keys to making the Secret Structure work.  As you will hear me say many times in this podcast, “arrangement matters.”  Like it really matters.  If a few poems were moved around, the Secret Structure would fall apart.  

The next thing is: I’m not going to call the Secret Structure “The Secret Structure” anymore.  Or at least not that often.  I prefer Structure.  Just Structure.  Maybe there’s a better name, but I haven’t thought one up.  Either way, I don’t want to say Secret Structure 100 times each episode.  I hope this isn’t confusing for you.

Next is Quatrain and Group.  You should already know what a quatrain is.  Each sonnet has three of them.  Well, for short, as I’ve already done in this episode, I will often refer to these as Q1, Q2, and Q3.  A group or group 1, group 2, and group 3 are the same thing as a quatrain, except that I’m referring to a section, not an individual sonnet.  So, for example, the first four lines of Sonnet 1 are Q1.  The first four poems of Section 1 are Group 1.  As I dive deep into the work, I will quickly alternate between talking about individual sonnets and sections.  It will be beneficial for you to know whether I’m talking about Q1 or Group 1.

A couplet, however, will always be a couplet.  Sorry about that.  So, when we’re at Sonnet 13 and I’m discussing the couplet, you’ll need to figure out whether I’m talking about the last two lines of Sonnet 13 or the last two poems of Section 1.  Trust me, I will give you plenty of context so that you’re not lost, but I prefer couplet.  Usually, if I need to clarify, I will say sectional couplet.  So, couplet and sectional couplet. 

The last major thing you must learn is my numbering system.  It’s very simple, but it’s also absolutely essential for making the structure easy to understand.  Let me give you an example.  Sonnet 71 is “No Longer mourn for me when I am dead.”  You may have read it.  It’s reasonably well known, but that’s not what’s important at the moment.  Sonnet 71?  Do the math in your head.  Which section is it in and where is in the section?  Furthermore, which act is that?  As you can immediately see, these are questions that no one has ever asked about Sonnet 71.  However, for us, we absolutely must know these things or else we can’t evaluate the poem or appreciate it through the prism of the Structure.

So, where is Sonnet 71 located?  We’ll 14x5 is 70.  Therefore, Sonnet 71 is actually the first sonnet of Section 6 and the start of Act 3.  Wow, that’s a lot of valuable information and the number 71 isn’t much help.  That’s why I created a simple numbering system that will help both of us.  In this way, Sonnet 71 is also called Sonnet 6.1.  The first number is the section, and the second number is the location in the section.  So, Sonnet 6.1 means Section 6, first poem.

This will really help you know where you are and what to look for.  If you have a paperback copy of The Sonnets, I encourage you to spend ten minutes and write in this numbering system.  It will assist you so much when you’re reading the poems.  For example, if I’m talking about Sonnet 3.9, you immediately recognize that I’m referring to Section 3’s turn.  If I’d just called it Sonnet 37, you might be a little lost.

Of course, at the same time, some of you may be worried that I’m going to abandon the traditional numbering system.  Absolutely not!  I will use both.  Most of the time, I will use my numbering system, but I’ll also insert in the traditional number because that technically is the sonnet’s title, and I want you to be able to look up the poems without needing a calculator.  Having said that, I will lean on my numbering system, but both numbers will be in the transcripts.

Okay, so that’s about it for this week.  I realize that a lot of what I said today might have gone over your head.  I’m sorry if that happened, but I promise you that’s it.  I’m not going to load you up with more vocabulary and methodology.  I encourage you to think of the structure like a board game.  It may seem complicated at first, but, after you’ve played it once, you will basically understand it and be ready for more.

In the next episode, we’re going to explore the eleven sections one after the other.  I think you’re going to love this episode because I’m going to describe Shakespeare’s Sonnets in a way that no one has ever seen before.  Even if you think I’m crazy, you need to listen to that episode just for your own entertainment.  For me, Episode 3 is the flagship episode of the entire podcast.  I will summarize two years of research and 15 years of frustration into one hour of entertainment.

The website for the podcast is sonnetspodcast.com and my email is sonnetspodcast@gmail.com.  See you next time.