how to write sonnets in iambic pentameter

This change can be subtle or dramatic, but the sonnet always embodies change.Īs such, the sonnet is the poetic crystallisation for one of the greatest truisms in life – change is the only constant. Somewhat ironically, the genesis of the Shakespearean (or English) sonnet stemmed from a desire to ‘naturalise’ its Italian ancestor specifically, to give the Italian sonnet a greater degree of freedom in both form and rhyme.Įnglish, compared to Italian, isn’t as much of a rhyme-friendly language, which is why a strict adherence to the Petrarchan scheme would at some point curtail the poetic imagination of writers like Shakespeare, Spenser, and Donne.Īs such, when the Petrarchan form made its way across the English Channel, Sir Thomas Wyatt and the Earl of Surrey anglicised it in their 1557 ‘Songes and Sonettes’ (thereafter known as Tottel’s Miscellany ), which would later gain popular currency with Shakespeare’s sonnets.įormal distinctions aside, one of the best ways to understand a sonnet is to see how a singular idea or thought undergoes a marked change throughout the course of the poem.īecause of the ‘volta’ (hinge), there’s always a point of pivot in the verse, where the persona gains an epiphany, comes to a realisation, or simply changes his/her mind about something.

How did this ‘split’ in sonnet type come about? While this may seem like a minor revision in form, the impact this poses on the unity of thought and idea is significant (well, at least significant enough to merit its own category!) Instead of the ABAB CDCD EFEF GG rhyme scheme, then, in the Spenserian sonnet this becomes ABAB BCBC CDCD EE instead. What is the difference between the Petrarchan and Shakespearean sonnet?Ī third sonnet type that we may come across is the Spenserian sonnet, which is basically the Shakespearean sonnet – but with the quatrains interlinked through rhyme. In general, there are 2 main sonnet types – the Petrarchan sonnet and the Shakespearean sonnet. This is because the ‘sonnet’, since its inception in the 13th century Italian court, has seen itself morph into many different forms, so much so that to say a poem is a ‘sonnet’ without specifying its type almost makes the identification meaningless.

Short of the famous first lines “My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun” and “How do I love thee? Let me count the ways”, most of us aren’t always aware that a poem we’re reading is, in fact, a sonnet (or some kind of variation on a sonnet). To be exact, “ten syllables per line” based on iambic pentameter.

Poems aren’t easy to read, but if there’s any poetic form that grants both pleasure and closure, it’s probably the sonnet.Īccording to the Oxford Dictionary, a sonnet is defined as:Ī poem of fourteen lines using any of a number of formal rhyme schemes, in English typically having ten syllables per line

How to write sonnets in iambic pentameter