Following the recent loss of her beloved cat Shakespeare, one of my poet friends adopted a beautiful little calico kitten, which she named “Sonnet.” Thinking about Shakespeare (the cat) and Sonnet (the kitten) turned my thoughts to literary sonnets, traditional and modern.
Any kind of formal poem can be a challenge, but the sonnet is relatively simple. So … this week, let’s have some fun writing sonnets. We’ll focus on the Shakespearean sonnet, but if you’d like to experiment with the Petrarchan (Italian sonnet that consists of two sections – one eight-line section, the octave, and one six-line section, the sestet) or other forms, here’s a link that should be helpful: http://www.sonnets.org/basicforms.htm. Of course, you may want to depart from the traditional altogether and create a sonnet form of your own!
Any kind of formal poem can be a challenge, but the sonnet is relatively simple. So … this week, let’s have some fun writing sonnets. We’ll focus on the Shakespearean sonnet, but if you’d like to experiment with the Petrarchan (Italian sonnet that consists of two sections – one eight-line section, the octave, and one six-line section, the sestet) or other forms, here’s a link that should be helpful: http://www.sonnets.org/basicforms.htm. Of course, you may want to depart from the traditional altogether and create a sonnet form of your own!
Shakespeare is perhaps the most famous of all sonnet poets, but many others have used the form over the centuries, and some interesting experimental forms have evolved. A conventional Shakespearean sonnet is comprised of fourteen lines (three stanzas of four lines (quatrains), and a fourth of two lines, or a couplet at the end). In each of the first three stanzas, rhyme the first and third lines and the second and fourth lines (a, b, a, b, c, d, c, d, e, f, e, f); and rhyme the lines of the concluding couplet (g, g). Sonnets have a musical quality, usually achieved through use of iambic pentameter and rhyme. (Did you know that when we speak naturally, we often speak in iambic pentameter?) To learn more about iambic pentameter, here’s the link to an informative site: http://iambicpentameter.net/. To get a practical sense of iambic pentameter and the sound quality of a sonnet, read some Shakespearean sonnets aloud. (Be aware that in sonnets exact rhymes aren’t absolutely required, and off-rhymes occur in some of the best sonnets.)
Shakespearean Sonnet:
Additional Sonnets by William Shakespeare:
Modern Sonnets:
Some contemporary poets have stretched the traditional sonnet into a form that barely remembers its history and bears little resemblance to conventional form other than the presence of fourteen lines (and, in some cases, only the word sonnet in the title). These and the so-called American sonnets have been written by Gerald Stern, Wanda Coleman, Ted Berrigan, and others.
Examples:
After you’ve written your sonnet, read one by Shakespeare aloud, then read yours aloud. How do the poems compare in terms of sonic impression?
Top Photo: Shakespeare's Birthplace, Stratford-Upon-Avon, England
