
In these sonnets, Shakespeare is reiterating to the young man that it is his duty to marry and have kids, urging him to reproduce so that his physical beauty will be eternalized through future generations. The vast majority of these sonnets are addressed to an unnamed attractive young man who represents beauty, love, and praise. Shakespeare’s sonnet sequence is comprised of 154 sonnets that were published in 1609. So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.Title Page of Shakespeare’s Sonnets (1609) So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,

When in eternal line to Time thou grow'st. Nor shall death brag thou wand'rest in his shade, Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st. Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,Īnd every fair from fair sometime declines,īy chance, or nature's changing course untrimmed Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,Īnd Summer's lease hath all too short a date. Once you’re set, go show off your sonnet by posting it to Power and continue to experiment with new ways of writing poems.

It can be a little tough to get the hang of writing an English sonnet, so try your best and don’t get discouraged. Thinking of each quatrain as its own little poem can make it easier to get a hold of the rhyme scheme. So, if you assigned a letter of the alphabet to each line, it would look like this: ABAB CDCD EFEF and GG for the couplet. Every other line in a sonnet rhymes, (except the couplet where both lines rhyme) but the rhyming pattern starts over with each quatrain.

Here is an example, with the capitalized words being the stressed ones: “Rough WINDS do SHAKE the DARLing BUDS of MAY.” When writing in iambic pentameter, it might help to think of your heartbeat and the rhythm that makes, because the pattern is very similar. Since there are ten syllables in each line, only five of them are stressed. Each line in a sonnet uses iambic pentameter, which is a complicated way of saying that every other syllable is stressed, and has more emphasis put upon it when read out loud. The poem can be broken down into three segments of four lines (each called a quatrain) and one pair of lines that rhyme (called a couplet).

A sonnet has fourteen lines, and each line has ten syllables. The sonnet originated in Italy the term comes from the Italian word “sonetto”, which means “little song.” However, the sonnet was made most famous by William Shakespeare who put his own spin on it, which led to a new type of sonnet called the “English Sonnet” or “Shakespearean Sonnet.” Don't miss these examples from our poets. Learning how to write a sonnet can give you the chance to combine a traditional form of poetry with more modern themes and vocabulary to create something truly unique. You already use rhythm and rhyme when you write poetry.
