A sonnet

I've had a goal: to write a sonnet sooner, rather than later. A snowy, windy day inspired me. It is tougher to write one than it looks, if you follow the rules of engagement!

Still winter in this place of snow traditions
In March the wind it howled and surely roared
Worn out with life full of white conditions

Despite embracing pleasures, never bored

Mittens, shovels, all that clitter-clatter
Braving ice, snowshoes, wetland frozen
The birds they sing, they flit, they chitter-chatter
Our backyard: deer, turkeys fly, ever chosen

But winds they blow, snow still is afallen
It's time for sap to run and snow to leave
I hope that Spring she will come aknockin'
For winter I will not be sad to grieve

Hopeful: winter days they are anumbered
Nature wakens after she has slumbered

Shakespearean sonnet.' 4-4-4-2'. abab, cdcd, efef, gg.
A sonnet is an argument. Its metaphors builds this argument, moves from one metaphor to the next. In a Shakespearean sonnet, the argument builds up like this:

• First quatrain: An exposition of the main theme and main metaphor.
• Second quatrain: Theme and metaphor extended or complicated; often, some imaginative example is given.
• Third quatrain: Peripeteia (a twist or conflict), introduced by a "but" off the ninth line.
• Couplet: Summarizes and leaves the reader with a new, concluding image.

See also:"rules" of The English Sonnet  by Crosland, who disallowed rhymes using...

• words ending in ty, ly and cy must not be used as rhymes whether in octet or sestet.
• applies to the pronoun "I" and to easy or over-worked rhymes such as see, me, be and day, may, play. Be, bee, maybe, sea, see.
• Words ending in cy do not rhyme together, and must not be rhymed in either octet or sestet. (Crosland, 1917)

MORE REFERENCES

 Introduction to Shakespeare's Sonnets

 Shakespearean Sonnet Basics Iambic Pentameter and the English Sonnet Style

A rhyme scheme in which each sonnet line consists of ten syllables. The syllables are divided into five pairs called iambs or iambic feet.  An example of an iamb would be good BYE. A line of iambic pentameter flows like this: 

When I / do COUNT / the CLOCK / that TELLS / the TIME (Sonnet 12)

 Shakespeare's Sonnets: Q & A 
 Shakespeare's Greatest Love Poem

• Read some examples at Sonnet Central.
• explanation of iambic pentameter and hints on writing love poetry.
• Try some Sonnet Magnets  - This is a really novel wordmagnet applet!
• Discuss sonnets and sonnet writing on the new sonnet board.