A
rehashed, rearranged
version of the
Petrarchan Sonnet, the Spenserian
Sonnet was arranged by
Edmund Spenser, the "Poet's Poet."
Spenser's arrangement was
popular and
infuential, so much so that it was
ol' Shakey's
sonnet of choice. Like the
Petrarchan Sonnet, the Spenserian
Sonnet is composed of fourteen lines written in
iambic pentameter. Here is an example by
Edmund Spenser himself:
Edmund Spenser
One day I wrote her name upon the strand,
But came the waves and washèd it away:
Again I wrote it with a second hand,
But came the tide, and made my pains his prey.
"Vain man," said she, "that dost in vain assay,
A mortal thing so to immortalize,
For I myself shall like to this decay,
And eek my name be wipèd out likewise."
"Not so," quod I, "let baser things devise,
To die in dust, but you shall live by fame:
My verse your virtues rare shall eternize,
And in the heavens write your glorious name.
Where whenas death shall all the world subdue,
Our love shall live, and later life renew."
The rhyme scheme of the Spenserian Sonnet consists of three quatrains and a couplet: a b a b, b c b c, c d c d, e e. The second quatrain's first line rhymes with the last line of the first quatrain, and the first line of the third quatrain rhymes with the last line of the second quatrain. This rhyme scheme resembles the Italian rhyming technique, terza rima. Finally, the couplet has two lines that rhyme with themselves.