Shakespearean
Sonnets
Sonnet: A 14-line poem much popularized by Shakespeare, written in
iambic pentameter. It consists of three quatrains and a final couplet with
the rhyme scheme ABAB CDCD EFEF GG.
Metrical Foot: A basic repeated sequence of meter composed of two
or more accented or unaccented syllables, which forms the basis of
poetic rhythm.
Iambic Pentameter: A common meter in poetry consisting of an
unrhymed line with five feet or accents, with each foot containing an
unaccented syllable and an accented syllable.
Quatrain: A stanza consisting of four lines.
Couplet: A stanza consisting of two lines. A couplet is “heroic” if the
two lines rhyme with one another.
Writing Shakespearean Sonnets
A Shakespearean sonnet is one of the most famous forms of poetry. It
was made famous by Shakespeare, of course, but has enjoyed
continued use by many more contemporary poets. As a rule, a
Shakespearean sonnet is a fourteen-line lyric poem written in iambic
pentameter and features a formal rhyme scheme.
Iambic Pentameter
Iambic pentameter is a set rhythm that is featured in many types of poetry,
especially Shakespearean sonnets. Basically, the “iamb” part of iambic pentameter
refers to two syllables that are used, one unstressed (-) and the other stressed (/).
Together, these two syllables create what is called a metrical foot. The “penta” part
of iambic pentameter means that you use five of these feet—totaling 10 syllables
in each line of iambic pentameter. To put it more simply, your lines in a
Shakespearean sonnet should contain 10 syllables (not words!), whose rhythm
mimics that of the beat of your heart, like this:
Unstressed
Ba
Stressed
Unstressed
Stressed
Unstressed
Stressed
Unstressed
Stressed
Unstressed
Stressed
/
-
/
-
/
-
/
-
/
DUM
Ba
DUM
Ba
DUM
Ba
DUM
Ba
DUM
If you replace all of these “ba-DUM’s” with real words, you get one line of iambic
pentameter!
Unstressed
I
Stressed
Unstressed
Stressed
Unstressed
Stressed
Unstressed
Stressed
Unstressed
Stressed
/
-
/
-
/
-
/
-
/
LIKE
to
DRINK
moun
TAIN
dew
ALL
day
LONG
It’s important to remember that iambic pentameter stresses individual
syllables, not words! If you have a word that is more than one syllable, you
must break it up into its unstressed and stressed parts in order to keep the
rhythm going.
Rhythm Scheme for Shakespearean Sonnets
The structure and formal rhyme scheme in Shakespearean sonnets is very
specific. Although the full poem is fourteen lines long, they are broken up into
different rhyming stanzas.
First in a Shakespearean sonnet there are three quatrains—or four-line stanzas
with an alternating rhyme scheme of A-B-A-B, C-D-C-D, and E-F-E-F. At the end of
each Shakespearean sonnet there is a heroic couplet—or two lines that share the
same rhyme scheme of GG. A sonnet that uses both iambic pentameter and this
formal rhyme scheme would look like this:
William Shakespeare’s Sonnet 18
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:
A
B
A
B
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimm'd;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance or nature's changing course untrimm'd;
C
D
C
D
But thy eternal summer shall not fade
Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest;
Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou growest:
E
F
E
F
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this and this gives life to thee.
G
G
Write a traditional Shakespearean sonnet using iambic pentameter and a formal
rhyming scheme. Your sonnet must follow the requirements:
∙ MUST be fourteen lines long
∙ MUST follow iambic pentameter
∙ MUST follow the ABABCDCDEFEFGG rhyme scheme.
USE THE WORKSHEET ON THE FOLLOWING
PAGE TO HELP YOU!
WRITING YOUR SHAKESPEAREAN
SONNET!
Directions: Use the table below to write your very own Shakespearean-style
sonnet. Remember to only write one syllable per box on the table. After you fill out
the table, double-check your syllables and rhyme scheme, and then type your final
version of your sonnet on a separate Google Doc to turn in for a grade.
LINE
#
Unstressed
-
Stressed
Unstressed
Stressed
Unstressed
Stressed
Unstressed
Stressed
Unstressed
Stressed
/
-
/
-
/
-
/
-
/
RHYME
SCHEME
1
A
2
B
3
A
4
B
5
C
6
D
7
C
8
D
9
E
10
F
11
E
12
F
13
G
14
G