Exploring Shakespearean Sonnets
In this exercise, you will learn about
Shakespearian sonnets. You will learn
what makes up a Shakespearean
sonnet and listen to a sonnet being
read. Finally, you will write a sonnet of
your own! To complete the activities,
type into the “lined paper” section at
the left. Look at the “notes” section
below each slide for any additional
directions.
Page
1
What makes a Shakespearean sonnet?
Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove:
O, no! it is an ever-fixed mark,
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wandering bark,
Whose worth's unknown, although his height be
taken.
A sonnet is a poem composed of
14 lines with a specific rhyme
scheme. A Shakespearean
sonnet contains three sets of
four lines (quatrains) and one
set of two lines (couplet).
Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and
cheeks
Within his bending sickle's compass come;
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
If this be error and upon me proved,
I never writ, nor no man ever loved.
Page
2
What makes a Shakespearean sonnet?
Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove:
O, no! it is an ever-fixed mark,
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wandering bark,
Whose worth's unknown, although his height be
taken.
A Shakespearean sonnet has a
rhyme scheme of ABAB CDCD
EFEF GG. Each letter
corresponds to a different
sound at the end of the line.
This means that all lines with a
letter “A” end in the same
sound, or they rhyme. The same
is true for each letter.
Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and
cheeks
Within his bending sickle's compass come;
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
If this be error and upon me proved,
I never writ, nor no man ever loved.
Page
3
What makes a Shakespearean sonnet?
Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove:
O, no! it is an ever-fixed mark,
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wandering bark,
Whose worth's unknown, although his height be
taken.
Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and
cheeks
Within his bending sickle's compass come;
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
Finally, a Shakespearean sonnet is
written in a rhythm called iambic
pentameter. This means that
each line contains five pairs of
syllables, an unstressed syllable
followed by a stressed syllable.
You might think of iambic
pentameter as a heartbeat, the
unstressed syllables being the
“lub” and the stressed syllables
the “DUB” : lub-DUB lub-DUB.
If this be error and upon me proved,
I never writ, nor no man ever loved.
Page
4
Lend me your ears!
Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove:
O, no! it is an ever-fixed mark,
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wandering bark,
Whose worth's unknown, although his height be
taken.
Click on the image below to hear a
reading of Shakespeare's Sonnet
#116. Listen closely and see if
you can identify the rhyme and
rhythm that of the
Shakespearean sonnet.
Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and
cheeks
Within his bending sickle's compass come;
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
If this be error and upon me proved,
I never writ, nor no man ever loved.
Page
5
Now it's your turn!
Love at first sight, they say it isn't true,
Yet I know better, for I've known it twice.
I felt the strongest love I ever knew
When I first looked into my children's eyes.
So helpless, yet they stole my heart away.
I didn't even have the chance to fight.
I knew that this new love was here to stay,
And everything at once just felt so right.
I lived for many years before they came,
And thought my life to be completely whole.
But now I know I'll never be the same
Without these tiny precious little souls.
Soon they'll grow up and I'll have to let go,
Yet my love will remain this strong, I know.
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6