Paul Fussell sonnet

Paul Fussell begins the chapter by stating any poems two kinds of basic organization. The poem may either be stichic or strophic; in a stichic arrangement, line follows line without any formal or mathematical grouping of the lines into stanzas. In strophic organization, the lines are arranged in stanzas of varying degrees of logical complexity. A compromise between these two can be found in heroic couplets, which are best thought of as stichic, with a line of twenty, rather than ten syllables. Stichic arrangement is found usually in large, dramatic, and expansive narratives such as Paradise Lost. Strophic leans more closely towards brief moments of emotion and argument; strophic structure is associated with music in the fact that codas mirror refrains in poems, therefore leaning towards a more poetic style, rather than social commentary.
One of the biggest factors in a coherent essay is said to be the end-rhyme. Not only does the end-rhyme of a line sound better to the ears than say a non rhyme, the choice of words and semantics can cleverly balance themes such as irony. It would also be hard to argue that rhymes do not sound better than regular words in everyday language; many of our favorite phrases are rhymes that describe every-day chores and occurrences. The bottom line: pleasantly sounded rhymes exploit our pleasure of harmony and consonance. The poet writing in stichic most be keen to line integrity – that is, whether or not each line works to form a whole poem, or whether the poem is full of run-ons, creating a “symphonic sense of flow and flux, a sort of tidal variation”. The use of end-stopping or run-on sentences can greatly set the tone and effect of the language used; traditionally, stichic poetry maintains a high degree of line integrity.
“If the degree of significant line integrity is one of the main formal concerns of the stichic poet, the problems facing the strophic poet are much more taxing”. Some of these problems are seen most vividly through the use of sonnet. The sonnet is in iambic pentameter made up of fourteen lines. The type of sonnet used determines the rhyme scheme and organization of the piece. There are many types of sonnet used, the four described by Fussell as Petrarchan, Shakespearean, Spenserian, and curtal sonnets. Each differs in the formation of quatrains and setsets (or couplets) and greatly affects the rhyme scheme. The most common type is the Petrarchan (or Italian) sonnet, which I will be describing. There are three main parts to a Petrarchan sonnet: the octave, the turn, and the setset. The octave is made out of two quatrains, with an abab rhyme scheme. These first eight lines tend to present the subject of the poem. Around line eight or nine, the turn occurs, which is the white space between the octave and setset. Generally the reader is presented with a logical or emotional shift and is truck with an altered view of the subject. The last six lines (cdcdcd) form the setset; the setsets function is to release the pressure or intellectual weight caused by the octave.
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