1. Sonnets

2. What is a sonnet?
Sonnets were often commissioned by people who would hire poets to write sonnets that adequately expressed their love for someone
There are two main types of sonnets: Shakespearean (English) and Petrarchan (Italian)
Note: Poets other than Shakespeare also wrote Shakespearean sonnets; the form is just named after him
Each has a different form, but we will only be focusing on the Shakespearian sonnet
The Shakespearian sonnet is composed of 14 lines that follow a specific rhyme scheme and are written in iambic pentameter (each line is 10 syllables long)

3. Literary Devices often used in Sonnets
Hyperbole: obvious and intentional exaggerated statements or claims
Example: It was so cold I saw polar bears wearing jackets.
Metaphor: a figure of speech in which a person, place, or thing is compared to an object that is seemingly unrelated but shares some kind of common characteristic
Example: He is the black sheep of the family.
Simile: a comparison statement that uses “like” or “as”
Example: Her smile was as bright as the sun, and her lips were red like a rose.

4. Example - Shakespeare What is the rhyme scheme of this sonnet?
“Sonnet 18” Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate: Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, And summer's lease hath all too short a date: Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines, And often is his gold complexion dimm'd; And every fair from fair sometime declines, By chance, or nature's changing course, untrimm'd; But thy eternal summer shall not fade Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st; Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade, When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st; So long as men can breathe or eyes can see, So long lives this, and this gives life to thee. a b c d e f g
What is the rhyme scheme of this sonnet?
All Shakespearian sonnets follow this same rhyme scheme.
What is this poem saying?
Which literary devices are being used in this poem?

5. Example - Shakespeare
“Sonnet 130” My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun; Coral is far more red than her lips' red; If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun; If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head. I have seen roses damask'd, red and white, But no such roses see I in her cheeks; And in some perfumes is there more delight Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks. I love to hear her speak, yet well I know That music hath a far more pleasing sound; I grant I never saw a goddess go; My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground: And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare As any she belied with false compare.
What makes this sonnet different from the previous one? What is this poem saying?
Which literary devices are being used in this poem?

6. Modern song lyrics turned into sonnets

7. Modern song lyrics turned into sonnets

8. Modern song lyrics turned into sonnets

9. Your turn
Attempt to write a Shakespearean sonnet about Donald Trump (or someone else of your choosing) that uses hyperbole, metaphors, and/or similes. OR
Turn a song you like into a Shakespearean sonnet that uses hyperbole, metaphors, and/or similes.