Sonnets: Shall I Compare Thee to a High School English Class?

Photo Credit: J. Givens

Happy Friday, friends! Every so often (specifically, about once every three weeks), your favorite editors will showcase a form they love and present to you, lovely reader, a form-based writing prompt. Some will be simple: test your skills at the form we discuss that week. Other times, we'll aim to challenge you. (It's because we care).

Our focus this week is on, as you've probably guessed, the sonnet. The Shakespearean Sonnet, without a doubt, was probably one of the first poetic forms you came across in early high school English classes; at least, that's where I first fell in love with the sonnet. I fancied myself quite the Shakespearean impersonator, attempting to translate my high school love troubles into a grandiose love affair via the sonnet. Thankfully, I grew out of it.

The sonnet, like the villanelle, started as an Italian form and slowly progressed to England. While it was actually the Petrarchan sonnet that preceded the Shakespearean sonnet, it's Shakespeare's version that is more widely recognized by the general public. (Plus, it's the form of the two that I prefer. My blog post, my rules).

Here's how we break it down:

While I love a good old-fashioned Shakespearean sonnet, with the iambic pentameter and the formality, what really impresses me is a sonnet that doesn't flaunt itself as such. Take my all time favorite example:

Tracking the rhyme scheme throughout the poem makes it a dead giveaway: it's a sonnet. But what I love about "Nowhere" is that Smith doesn't allow the ten syllable rule to restrict him from making his sentences as long as he likes.

Now, this poem  isn't the only type of  variation on a sonnet that contemporary poets have played with. Some play with the number of syllables in a line; others, the rhyme scheme. Today, the decision is to you. Your prompt is simple: write a sonnet!

If you have never written a sonnet before, by all means: try the traditional form first and hold true to the iambic pentameter and the rhyme scheme. Make sure each sentence is only ten syllables long! If you're an experience sonnet-eer (is that a word? I'm just going to make it a word), your challenge is to try something different. Experiment! Break the rules (we won't tell).

Like your result? Share it with us! Leave a comment below (don't be shy!) or submit your poem via email. We love form poems...especially when we're looking to feature our readers' work!