William FitzGerald Fall 2006
English 220 - Introduction to Literary Study


Homework for Monday, September 18:

Note: The QUIZ, postponed due to the fire alarm event, is rescheduled for today, 9/18.

Read the sections on "Form" form in the Essay on Versification, p. 1263-1276. Pay special attention to the definitions of the following terms:

Blank Verse Couplet Tercet Quatrain Spenserian stanza
Sonnet (English, Italiam, Spenserian) octave sestet
ottava rima elegy ode

For examples of these poetic forms, read the following poems

Couplet: "To His Coy Mistress," Marvell, p. 293
Heroic Couplets: "A Description of a City Shower," Swift, p. 333
Tercet: "Upon Julia's Clothes," Herrick, p. 229
Quatrain: "Warming Her Pearls," Duffy, p. 1242
Ottava Rima: "Sailing to Byzanitium," Yeats, p. 774


Question to consider: in what ways does the choice of form (including rhyme scheme) shape the experience of reading the poem or its overal meaning?