English Literature / Unit 1 ENL 0028 short lesson, about 20 seconds
The Spenserian Sonnet and the Sonnet Sequence
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The idea
The Spenserian sonnet interlocks its quatrains, abab bcbc cdcd ee, so each quatrain borrows a rhyme from the last. A sonnet sequence is a group of sonnets unified by subject, usually a speaker's unhappy love for a distant beloved, after Petrarch. Sidney, Spenser and Shakespeare all wrote sequences.
In practice
Interlocked quatrains; sonnets in a series.
Where people slip
Each sonnet in a sequence also stands alone.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
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