1. What is a Sonnet? A Quick Reference Guide
Please copy into the Class Notes section of your notebook.

2. A sonnet is a poem that consists of 14 lines, follows a specific rhyme scheme, and is written in iambic pentameter.
The 14 lines of a sonnet can be broken down into two parts called quatrains and one part called a couplet.
Each line is exactly ten (10) syllables.
Basic Definition…

3. First Quatrain Lines 1-4 make up the first quatrain (4 lines).
These four lines should establish the subject of the poem.
The rhyming pattern for these four lines is ABAB.
First Quatrain

4. Second Quatrain Lines 5-8 (4 lines).
These four lines should state the theme of the poem.
The rhyming pattern for these four lines is CDCD.
Second Quatrain

5. Third Quatrain Lines 9-12 (4 lines).
These four lines should support the theme of the poem.
The rhyming pattern for these four lines EFEF.
Third Quatrain

6. Couplet Lines 13 and 14 (2 lines).
These last two lines conclude the poem.
The rhyming pattern for these two lines is GG.
Couplet

7. 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 dimmed;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance, or nature’s changing course, untrimmed;
But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st,
Nor shall death brag thou wand’rest 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.
Sonnet 18

8. Each line of a sonnet should be written in iambic pentameter
Each line of a sonnet should be written in iambic pentameter. That means that each line should consist of ten (10) syllables.
Using the sheet that has been provided to you, write your own sonnet.
Do not worry about stressed and unstressed syllables. Just make sure that each line is exactly ten syllables.
Iambic Pentameter

9. Helpful Hints Choose a topic that you would like to write about.
Using the proper rhyme scheme, introduce and state your theme (lines 1- 4).
Using the proper rhyme scheme, support your theme (lines 5-12).
Using the proper rhyme scheme, conclude your theme (lines 13 and 14).
Helpful Hints