English Sonnet

Sonnet Basics:

• 14 lines: an octave of 8 lines followed by a sestet of 6 lines
• Iambic pentameter: ba DUM ba DUM ba DUM ba DUM ba DUM
• Involves a comparison, a juxtaposition, a contrast to help examine an idea
• Contains a volta, a 'turn around'

The English Sonnet:

• Also known as the Shakespearian Sonnet
• Three quatrains of alternating rhyme and a couplet
• abab  cdcd  efef  gg
• Each quatrain contains an idea--although each is related to the others
• The placement of the volta is flexible 
• Shakespeare often places it at line 9

Example:

Sonnet XXIX

When in disgrace with Fortune and men's eyes,

I all alone beweep my outcast state,

And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries,

And look upon myself and curse my fate,

Wishing me like to one more rich in hope,

Featured like him, like him with friends possessed,

Desiring this man's art and that man's scope,

With what I most enjoy contented least,

Yet in these thoughts my self almost despising,

Haply I think on thee, and then my state,

(Like to the lark at break of day arising

From sullen earth) sings hymns at heaven's gate,

For thy sweet love remembered such wealth brings,

That then I scorn to change my state with kings.

Worksheet:

ENGLISH SONNET:

A

B

A
B

C
D
C
D

E
F
E
F

G
G

Gabriel's Horn Poetry Anthology

to submit your formal poetry