How to Write a Sonnett
By Laura Salopek
Writing a sonnet is not hard to do
A
Attempt to be like Shakespeare if the game
B
Just fourteen line will make a poem for you
A
Perhaps your verse will even give you fame
B
Unaccented some syllables shall be
C
You need just five iambs to make each line
D
Follow the rhymes and you will then be free
C
You can do this dear students who are mine
D
Will Shakespeare wrote a hundred fifty-four
E
The task for you is just to write but one
F
To read them all would be a larger chore
E
And you will be so proud when you are done F
Bah-BAH, duh-DUH should help you on your quest
To write a sonnet that will be your best
G
G
Sonnets are a kind of rhymed poem written in iambic pentameter. That’s a rhythm that sounds like this:
bah-BAH, bah-BAH, bah-BAH, bah-BAH, bah-BAH. An iamb is a rhythmic unit that includes an unstressed
syllable followed by a stressed syllable. It has the rhythm bah-BAH, as in the words “about” or “predict”
or “parade. ” Iambic pentameter is a line of poetry consisting of five iambs. Here are two sentences in
iambic pentameter.
The book explained another way to write
I think I’ll take a walk around the block.
Hear it? bah-BAH, bah-BAH, bah-BAH, bah-BAH, bah-BAH.
How to write a sonnet
1. It must have 14 lines.
2. It must be written in iambic pentameter. (duh-DUH, duh-DUH, duh-DUH, duh-DUH, duh-DUH)
3. It must be written in a standard rhyme scheme. (A,B,A,B,C,D,C,D,E,F,E,F,G,G) Every A rhymes with
every A, every B rhymes with every B, and so forth.
4. You may choose any topic you’d like.
Line 1 = A
Line 2 = B
Line 3 = A
Line 4 = B
Line 5 = C
Line 6 = D
Line 7 = C
Line 8 = D
Line 9 = E
Line 10 = F
Line 11 = E
Line 12 = F
Line 13 = G
Line 14 = G