The Shakespearen
Sonnet
Our lesson plan on how to write a Shakespearean Sonnet is ideal for Key Stage 3 pupils.
Preparation
Introduction
Your class can work in pairs or small
groups. Each group will need a copy
of Shakespeare’s Sonnet 18 which
is on the reverse of this sheet.
A Shakespearean Sonnet is highly
structured. It has 14 lines with a strict
rhyme scheme and each line is written
in iambic pentameter, which resembles
a heartbeat-style rhythm. This means
each line has 10 syllables with every
second syllable accented or stressed.
The rhyme scheme of a Shakespearean
sonnet is ABAB CDCD EFEF GG.
Firstly ask your class to read and make
notes on Sonnet 18. Can they see any
patterns, does the poem have an overall
theme, if so what is it? At this stage no
suggestions should be overlooked as
poetry can be interpreted in many ways!
Then as a class discuss the notes that
each group has come up with. Now
explain to the class the structure of
Sonnet 18 will be explained next.
Main Teaching Activity
For the main teaching activity pupils will
be writing their own sonnets. Ask pupils
to number lines 1 to 14 in their books.
Explain their sonnets are being based
on feelings and emotions. Ask pupils
to suggest a word associated with this
theme, then to write that on line 1. Ask
the same for line 2. Then for line 3 the
word must rhyme with line 1 and lines
2 and 4 must rhyme also. Continue this
way so lines 5 and 7, 6 and 8, 9 and 11,
10 and 12 all rhyme. Lines 13 and 14 are
a rhyming couplet and therefore must
rhyme with each other. Ask the class
in groups or individually, depending on
ability, to write their own sonnet using
the words you have just come up with.
Plenary
This is a 5-10 minute activity. Depending
on how the sonnets were written, ask
pupils to work in pairs to read their poem
to their partner or choose one person
from their group to read their sonnet to
the class. Their partner or the class is
to provide feedback; something they
like about the sonnet and a suggestion
on how it could be improved.
Example
Here is an example of how words on a particular theme can be used
to create a Shakespearean Sonnet, the theme here is Macbeth.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
Witch
Dark
Hitch
Spark
Thunder
Thud
Under
Blood
Mad
Guilt
Sad
Hilt
Ghost
Most
Trav’lling in the night, who goes there? A witch
Witches, three, a coven, fire lights the dark
Predicting Macbeth’s future without hitch
Macbeth heeds their words as the fire does spark
His wife’s told the news as it does thunder
Their plan takes shape; nearby King’s horses thud
Pressure too great, their marriage goes under
Too many deaths all for greed – too much blood
On Lady Macbeth’s hands, she’s driven mad
They have done wrong and now can’t take the guilt
Their greed and power-lust has made them sad
The bloodied sword is return’d to the hilt
It’s too late. Is that Banquo? No his ghost
’Cause Macbeth lov’d power and status most.
Notes
This is a one-hour activity. Alternatively
the introductory work can be done in
class (20-30 minutes) and the sonnet
can be written as homework.
Please feel free to send your pupils’ completed sonnets to us here at Young Writers.
Young Writers OR, Remus House, Coltsfoot Drive, Woodston, Peterborough PE2 9BF
Tel: 01733 890066 I 01733 898110 Fax: 01733 313524 Email: info@youngwriters.co.uk Web: www.youngwriters.co.uk
Bonacia Ltd Company Number: 05368980
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Sonnet 18
by William Shakespeare
Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer’s lease hath all too short a date:
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimmed,
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance, or nature’s changing course untrimmed:
But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st,
Nor shall death brag thou wander’st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou grow’st,
So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
Young Writers OR, Remus House, Coltsfoot Drive, Woodston, Peterborough PE2 9BF
Tel: 01733 890066 I 01733 898110 Fax: 01733 313524 Email: info@youngwriters.co.uk Web: www.youngwriters.co.uk
Bonacia Ltd Company Number: 05368980