Lesson plan: Shakespearean Sonnet
Lesson objectives: introduction to Shakespearean Sonnet and themes, sonnet structure and
devices, practices assessment skills, creative writing.
Materials:
Sonnet hand-out, Sonnet info sheet, worksheet
Introduction
Ask if they have read any poems or pays by Shakespeare – which ones? Or heard or watched any
films made of them? What do you know/remember?
Warm-up
Rhyming game
Read sonnet and circle the words that rhyme – can you see any patterns? Does the poem have an
overall theme, if so what is it?
Sonnet introduction:
Explain structure: 1. 14 lines
2. Rhyming scheme (ABAB CDCD EFEF GG)
3. Iambic pentameter – heartbeat-style rhythm. Each line has 10 syllables with
every second syllable accented or stressed.
Read poem out loud again, stressing the syllables.
Activity 1:
Sonnet questions – Handout
Activity 2:
Explain sonnets are based on feelings and emotions. Make a quick mind-map of feelings.
Ask students to number lines 1 to 14 in their books. Ask pupils to suggest a word associated with the
feeling they want to write about, and then write it 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 line 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.
Activity 3:
Show example of how words on a particular theme can be used to create a Shakespearean sonnet.
Ask student to write their own sonnet using the words they’ve just come up with.
Completion:
Ask student to read poem out loud.
Assess spelling and grammar.
If time, student can write another poem based on an emotion or thought.