Writing a sonnet

• 14 lines.
• iambic pentameter (duh-DUH-duh-DUH-duh-DUH-duh-DUH-duh-DUH).

If you're writing the most familiar kind of sonnet, the Shakespearean, the rhyme scheme is this:

A/B/A/B C/D/C/D E/F/E/F G/G

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.

If you have mastered these rules...check for this. As language evolves, practices change. Times have changed, as has language. See also: "rules" of The English Sonnet by Crosland disallowed rhymes using...

• words ending in "ty," "ly" and "cy" must not be used as rhymes whether in octet or sestet.
• This also 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 br sestet. (Crosland, 1917)
  

I have a goal to become a bit more creative, weaving spoken word and digital images and video. (I am 'retired'!) If I am successful, my son, an actor who specializes in UK accents, will read it for me! I gave him a birthday card, which I put on YouTube when he did a cold reading (59 sec.). There is something that happens when you hear them read so!

Here is a short video by Dave Mckean demonstrating what I mean.



The text:

Sonnet 138 --Shakespeare

When my love swears that she is made of truth,
I do believe her though I know she lies,
That she might think me some untutored youth,
Unlearned in the world's false subtleties.

Thus vainly thinking that she thinks me young,
Although she knows my days are past the best,
Simply I credit her false-speaking tongue,
On both sides thus is simple truth suppressed:

But wherefore says she not she is unjust?
And wherefore say not I that I am old?
O love's best habit is in seeming trust,
And age in love, loves not to have years told.

Therefore I lie with her, and she with me,
And in our faults by lies we flattered be.

MORE REFERENCES

• Read some examples at Sonnet Central.
• Some more (olden days).
  
• Another explanation of iambic pentameter and hints on writing love poetry.
• Stuck? Try some Sonnet Magnets.
• Discuss sonnets and sonnet writing on the new sonnet board.

Shakespeare: Iambic Pentameter, the Beat of ... 2 min 17 sec

IAMBIC PENTAMETER 3 min 31 sec

Clerihew

Clerihews are funny poems you write about specific people (your parents, your boss, your favorite movie star, your best friend, your pet, or anyone else you can think of). Clerihews have just a few simple rules:

• They are four lines long.
• The first and second as well as the third and fourth lines rhyme with each other.
• The first line names a person, and the second line ends with something that rhymes with the name of the person.
• A clerihew should be humerous.

This form of poetry is named after its inventor Edmund Clerihew Bentley (1875-1956) whose first collection of verse in Biography For Beginners (1905):


Sir Humphrey Davy
Abominated gravy.
He lived in the odium
Of having discovered sodium.

--Edmund Clerihew Bentley

Poetry Month - sources of information

In this, poetry month, I have found several places to find prompts, and/or sources of inspiration, including poetry styles, ideas, photos.

A poem of regret is suggested from Blog Writer's Digest. They offer poetry groups, and sell books, but they also talk about various poetry forms. I found this a good source of a prompt, in that playing with language, rhyme and syllables is good for the brain cells. If you are stuck, go to an on-line rhyming dictionary, there are lots of free ones about!

ReadWritePoem is one constant source in inspiration. Reading other's poetry is another source:
ReadWritePoem Participants. Reading other's poetry always gives me a source. Whether they are 'good' or 'bad', you can learn from what works for you. Some forms work better than others for us, but it is really good to stretch your skills, and add to your writing practice. The Blog Writer's Digest offers Poet's Market updates, too.
A handy piece for some. I just write for fun!

NaPoWriMo: the noises around me is one of the daily prompts (this from April 23). These prompts, that evoke sensory images and immediate sources, work best for me. I like to write from a place of knowledge and immediate inspiration. We write best when we write what we know.

Some are establishing their own groups: Sam Proof, Poetry Dances, as well as the more popular groups mentioned above. Find a kindred spirit and give each other feedback. You need not live in the same city or even the same country! It is a joyful way to play with language.


External links:

• Abstract (or Sound) Poetry
  
• Alphabet Poetry
• Concrete Poems
• Elegy
  
• Epitaphs
  
• Fibonacci Poetry
• Found Poetry
• Hay(na)ku
  
• Kyrielle
  
• Limericks
  
• List Poems
• Occasional Poems
• Odes
  
• Pantoum
  
• Parody Poems
• Rondeau
  
• The Roundabout
• Sestina
  
• Shadorma
  
• Triolet

Cinquain Quintain Quintet

The cinquain, also known as a quintain or quintet, is a poem or stanza composed of five lines. Cinquains can be found in many European languages; originating from medieval French poetry. (Often, my students would align the poems by centering them. They look interesting.)

The most common cinquains in English follow a rhyme scheme of ababb, abaab or abccb. For some 16th and 17th-century poets check out: Sir Philip Sidney, George Herbert, Edmund Waller, and John Donne (1572 - 1631). It helps to read, or listen to, the best!

Framework
Line 1 - one word for the topic - noun
Line 2 - 2 words to describes your topic -adjective
(from Latin: ad - 'toward', + jacere - 'throw')
Line 3 - 3 words that describes the actions relating to your topic -adverb
(place, time, circumstance, manner, cause, degree)
Line 4 - 4 words that describes the feelings relating to your topic - affect
Line 5 - one word that is another noun for your topic - synonym

I used this poetic strategy to teach my gr. 8 writers about grammatical terms. It works well!

Syllables

Line 1 - two syllables
Line 2 - four syllables
Line 3 - six syllables
Line 4 - eight syllables
Line 5 - two syllables

Read as many poems as you can. It helps set the tone.

The Handbook of Poetic Forms suggests:

• Refrain from being cloyingly sweet
• build toward a climax
• put a surprise into your last two lines
• be concerned with thoughts and images
• rather than parts of speech.