- Published: December 29, 2021
- Updated: December 29, 2021
- Level: College Admission
- Language: English
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English Literature ic and Modern) Patterns of Sound. Shakespeare’s sonnet 146 has a typical sonnet rhyme scheme as follows: abab cdcd efef gg. The fourteen lines are arranged in three groups of four, containing alternate rhymes, along with a final rhyming couplet. This pattern sets up a regular pattern for the majority of the sonnet, which is broken at the end when the two final lines provide a neat finish. The poem’s meter is the iambic pentameter, which means that there are five iambs in each line. An iamb is defined as “ one unstressed syllable followed by one stressed syllable” (Barnet et al., 2010, p. 666) This very regular stress pattern gives the sonnet a steady beat, as if marching solemnly to the very end. Each line ends at a natural break point, which also emphasizes the regularity of the poem’s form. Within this very tight rhythm and rhyme constraint, Shakespeare adds interest by repeating certain sounds. Key words , for example, contain the “ s” sound such as “ soul, center, sinful and suffer” (lines 1-3) and “ soul servant’s loss, dross” (lines 9-11) at the beginning of the sonnet. In contrast, the end of the sonnet concentrates on the “ d” sound with the words “ divine, dross, feed, Death, death, dead, dying” (lines 11-14). The very frequent repetition of the monosyllabic “ Death” “ death” and “ dead” in close proximity adds to the strong impact that this idea has. The point of the poem is that death will come at the end of life, as it comes at the end of the sonnet, but the soul can rise above this by remembering that poetry can feed the soul and enable it to live on in the written words long after the physical death of the body. References Barnet, S., Burto, W. E. and Cain, W. E. (eds). An Introduction to Literature. 16th Edition. Longman, 2010. Shakespeare, William. “ Sonnet 146” in S. Barnet, W. E. Burto and W. E. Cain (eds) An Introduction to Literature. 16th Edition. Longman, 2010, p. 676.