1. Research the term “sonnet” and indicate which the two main forms are in the sonnet tradition. Cite your sources in doing so. MacNeice refers to the term “sonnet” in line ten. How does MacNeice’s sonnet differ from traditional sonnets? How does it resemble those other sonnets? Explain in detail.
Sonnet is a poem that consists of fourteen lines with variable rhyme scheme and structure. Sonnets are considered to be of Italian origin and from Italian the term means “little sound or song”. There are two traditional sonnet forms: the Italian (or Petrarchan) Sonnet and the English (or Shakespearian) Sonnet. The Italian sonnet is traditionally divided into an octave (eight lines rhymed according to the scheme abbaabba) and a sestet (six lines where the order of two or three rhyming sounds may vary). The English sonnet consists of three quatrains (four lines that rhyme according to abab scheme) and one couplet (two rhymed lines).
In tenth line of the Sunday Morning poem Louis MacNeice sums up what has been told to be “a sonnet self-contained in rhyme”. Such a determination of the poem may be fair if to take into consideration the fact that it consists of fourteen rhymed lines divided into stanzas that sound a lot like traditional sonnet. But the difference is in the structure of sonnets (the Sunday Morning contains two five-line stanzas and one quatrain) and rhyme (all fourteen lines are rhymed as couplets according to aabbc cddee ffgg scheme).
2. Note how the last four lines contain an entirely different atmosphere than the first ten lines do. How do those lines contrast with the earlier lines? How does the poet create this contrast? Discuss the use of poetic devices as well as the “sentence structure” of the final line.
First ten lines of the poem Sunday Morning sound very optimistic and inspiring. They motivate one to forget about the everyday routine and live the moment. But last four lines sound rather realistic or probably even pessimistic. MacNeice with a help of personification brings the reader back to reality and reminds that “there is no music or movement” that can help us to escape. The strongest message is sent in the last line where MacNeice again uses personification and separates dependent clause from the complex sentence at the end (with a dot and starting dependent clause from the capital letter) to emphasize how routine influences us.
Works Cited
MacNeice, Louis. “Sunday Morning”. Faber Book of Modern Verse. Ed. Michael Roberts. London: Faber & Faber, 1982. Print.
Miller, Nelson. “Basic Sonnet Forms.” Sonnet Central, 25 Aug. 2012. Web. 2 Nov. 2014.
Sonnet. Poetry Foundation Glossary. Poetry foundation, 2014. Web. 2 Nov. 2014.
