How to write a Shakespearian Sonnet in four easy steps…

A sonnet is a type of poem with a specific number of lines and rhythm per line. This is similar to the iambic pentameter that “Hamlet” and “Macbeth” were written in.

This is an example of a sonnet: Let me compare love to a grassy field; It brings forth things sweet, scents assail the air, The flowers wave in the sun, spring’s sweet yield Like the breath of love, scents wafting so fair.   This beauty is similar to love’s birth, Feelings that surge and grow as hearts entwine, As summer sun kisses the field of earth, Lovers make promises their hearts do bind. But ere fall, the grass begins turning brown, The sordid refuse of the cattle revealed, And a lover’s wandering eye looks ‘round, A new lover he’s found, yet keeps concealed. If the wheel of seasons ceased its short turn Lovers would avoid the pain of hearts spurned.

How to you count the beats (rhythm) in a line How to you count the beats (rhythm) in a line? It’s like counting syllables. For example: garden ( 2 syllables= 2 beats); moronic (3 syllables = 3 beats) In the garden , the flowers bloom sweetly. (10 syllables = 10 beats) ******************************************************************** In a sonnet, each line of the poem has 10 beats (ten syllables) There are 14 lines in the poem. A sonnet usually deals with love, but it can be about life, death, the pitfalls of love (as in the example), or the beauty of nature.

There is also a rhyme scheme to a sonnet There is also a rhyme scheme to a sonnet. If you will look at the sample sonnet, you will see that the lines are color-coded. The last word of these lines should rhyme: Let me compare love to a grassy field; It brings forth things sweet, scents assail the air, The flowers wave in the sun, spring’s sweet yield Like the breath of love, scents wafting so fair.   This beauty is similar to love’s birth, Feelings that surge and grow as hearts entwine, As summer sun kisses the field of earth, Lovers make promises their hearts do bind. But ere fall, the grass begins turning brown, The sordid refuse of the cattle revealed, And a lover’s wandering eye looks ‘round, A new lover he’s found, yet keeps concealed. If the wheel of seasons ceased its short turn Lovers would avoid the pain of hearts spurned.

Now…… You have all of the information you need to create your own sonnet. #1. Think of a topic. Are you in love? Out of love? Angry? Indifferent? Contemplating the meaning of life and your place in the universe? #2. Start writing down ideas. (Fourteen lines of them.) Get some basic sentences down first. You can go back and fix the rhythm and the rhyme scheme later. #3. Go back over the lines you’ve written. Choose your words so that you create sentences that have 10 syllables. (Count on your fingers if you have to!) #4. Once you get the syllables right, focus on getting the correct end word to rhyme in each stanza. The last two lines of the poem will be the easiest because they are couplets…they rhyme with each other. #5. Now type up your sonnet, title it, and put in in the English 12 tray.