How do you write an English sonnet?

Answer 1

Let me give you the basics in the exact format:

This line's ending rhyme is a

This line's ending rhyme is b

This line's ending rhyme is a

This line's ending rhyme is b

This line's ending rhyme is c

This line's ending rhyme is d

This line's ending rhyme is c

This line's ending rhyme is d

This line's ending rhyme is e

This line's ending rhyme is f

This line's ending rhyme is e

This line's ending rhyme is f

This line's ending rhyme is g

This line's ending rhyme is g

Every line should be written in iambic pentameter, ti-DUM ti-DUM ti-DUM ti-DUM ti-DUM.

Use the first eight lines to set up the situation you wish your Sonnet to comment on and then comment on it in the last six lines.

Or, use the first eight lines, the octet, to set up a situation, and use the last six lines, the sestet, to complicate the situation or express an opposite to the situation.

For instance, the octet might describe a person who is loved. The sestet might say that the person not attainable, or does not return the love. The octet might describe virtues, and the sestet might describe offsetting faults. Opposing viewpoints or problem-answer or request-denial, any of these are good uses of the turn at line nine in a sonnet, and is also called the volta.

Answer 2

Start first by deciding what the theme of your sonnet will be. Sonnets usually have a two part theme: "I am sad, but I could be happy if you loved me", or "The world is depressing, but sometimes it isn't" or "I feel happy that you love me but I will be sad when you leave." Sonnet themes are usually in this kind of shape.

When you have decided upon your theme, you must decide upon whether your sonnet will be Petrarchan or Shakespearean. The difference is in the rhymes: Shakespearean sonnets rhyme in an ababcdcdefefgg pattern whereas Petrarchan sonnets start with an abbaabba section followed by a six-line section which rhymes cdecde or cdcdee or cddcee. If you choose Petrarchan, remember that you must write your first eight lines using only two rhymes.

Now you need to develop the first part of your theme in your first eight lines. Not only do you need to stick to the rhyme scheme you have chosen, you have to choose your words to be in the rhythm called iambic pentameter, a sequence of ten syllables of which every second one is stressed, starting with the second one. The result sounds something like ti-DUM-ti-DUM-ti-DUM-ti-DUM-ti-DUM. Shakespeare's most famous sonnet starts with the line "Shall I com-pare thee to a sum-mer's day?" Also, Elizabeth Barrett Browning's famous sonnet starts "How do I love thee? Let me count the ways."

The final six lines will complete the theme started in the first eight, and are also in iambic pentameter.