Writing Shakespearean Sonnets
Shakespearean Sonnet Requirements:
 MUST be 14 Lines.
 MUST have 3 Quatrains (set of 4 lines) and 1 Couplet (2 lines)
 MUST follow the rhyme scheme ABABCDCDEFEFGG
 MUST be about love (or related subjects: envy, heartbreak, friendship, family, passions, favorite things)
 MUST be in IAMBIC PENTAMETER (10 syllables per line)
I. Your First Stanza should explain the OCCASION or situation, and make the SUBJECT of the poem clear.
II. Your Second and Third Stanza should develop the TONE of the poem… what are the feelings involved? Convey
these feelings using figurative language: metaphors, similes, personification. EX: “Love is a rollercoaster”
III. Your Rhyming Couplet at the end should resolve the poem, or provide a dramatic twist to the story. Make sure
your PURPOSE is clear. The couplet is probably the most important two lines of the sonnet… so make them good!
THE CLINCHER!
Sample Sonnet:
“My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun (Sonnet 130)”
William Shakespeare
My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun;
Coral is far more red than her lips’ red;
If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;
If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.
I have seen roses damasked, red and white,
But no such roses see I in her cheeks;
And in some perfumes is there more delight
Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.
I love to hear her speak, yet well I know
That music hath a far more pleasing sound;
I grant I never saw a goddess go;
My mistress when she walks treads on the ground.
And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare
As any she belied with false compare.
You can work on your rough draft on this sheet, but your final draft should be in
your Writer’s Notebook.
First Stanza:
A
B
A
B
Second Stanza:
C
D
C
D
Third Stanza:
E
F
E
F
Rhyming Couplet:
G
G