Sonnets

Sonnets are fourteen-line poems with strict rhyme schemes and structure. They are traditionally love poems but can be about anything that interests you. Some of you have probably studied or written them before and know that they can be complicated. The challenge of sonnets is that you only have a limited number of lines and have to adhere to the rhyme scheme. For this reason, it's easy to write a bad sounding sonnet because the lines feel forced and the rhymes get boring. One way you can avoid this is practice which is why we’re doing this challenge. (So don’t worry if your first try isn’t perfect; we’re all here to practice.) There are two major types of Sonnets: Shakespearian Sonnets and Petrarchan Sonnets.

Shakespearian Sonnets follow the rhyme scheme abab, cdcd, efef, gg. This is called three quatrains and a couplet. The last two lines typically pack a punch and change the way we see the rest of the poem or serve to conclude the poem.

A famous example of this style is Shakespeare’s “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.

Petrarchan Sonnets (also called Italian Sonnets) have two stanzas. The first stanza is called an octave because it has eight lines, and the second is called a sestet as it has six lines. The rhyme scheme is abba, abba, cde, cde OR abba, abba, cdc, dcd. We have a “turn” at the end of the first stanza which means that something changes in the poem, like maybe the poet goes from happy to angry, or there is a change in time or place.

A famous Petrarchan Sonnet is “How Do I Love Thee?” by Elizabeth Barret:

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways. I love thee to the depth and breadth and height My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight For the ends of being and ideal grace. I love thee to the level of every day's Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light. I love thee freely, as men strive for right. I love thee purely, as they turn from praise.

I love thee with the passion put to use In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith. I love thee with a love I seemed to lose With my lost saints. I love thee with the breath, Smiles, tears, of all my life; and, if God choose, I shall but love thee better after death.

Try to write your own sonnet! Don’t be overwhelmed by the restrictions of this style; sometimes limitations can feed creativity instead of stifle it. Let your brain have fun working within this specific structure. While these two examples are love poems, yours definitely doesn’t have to be. If you want, you can try to write a love poem to an inanimate object, like a sonnet to your coffee. Play around with using one of these types of sonnets or make up some sort of fourteen-line poem of your own.

Post your sonnets down below. We can’t wait to see what you come up with!

P.S. This information on Sonnets comes from https://poets.org/glossary/sonnet if you want to learn more about them.