Writing Sonnets
WRITING SONNETS
© 1985, 2021, Frank Coffman
(all rights reserved)
The sonnet is the most versatile and most popular of the fixed forms of lyric verse in English [and all Western Languages for that matter]. Its great popularity can be explained by its tradition dating back to the Italian Renaissance, by its proven flexibility and adaptability — as demonstrated by the great writers who have used and modified the fourteen-line form to suit their particular needs — and because its length is the poetic equivalent to that basic structure for coherent statement and progression of thought in prose: the average paragraph.
Writing sonnets in English is not an easy business. English is a “rhyme-poor” language and the traditional types of sonnet require skill at rhymed verse [although some interesting “easier” versions will be discussed below]. Also, for the young poet in the era of free verse [which era has already shown signs of fading in favor of what is sometimes called “the new formalism”], the strict metrical and rhyme patterns of the sonnet may seem “restrictive” or “artificial” — the usual verse libre cop-outs to excuse the poet from good old-fashioned hard work with words.
But the sonnet can be excellent practice for the young poet, and the very large number written over centuries and the diversity of examples should serve as proof that the form does not stifle freedom of expression or range of topic, emotion, or meaning.
An understanding of certain key terms from the discipline of prosody is essential to the writing of sonnets.
Rhyme: the noticeable repetition of sound. True Rhyme is the repetition of the final vowel and all succeeding consonant sounds (if any) exactly. Slant Rhyme is the repetition of a different final vowel, but with all the final consonant sounds (if any) the same. There are also the possibilities of Vowel Rhyme [Assonance] and other experimental varieties like the Pararhyme used by WWI poet Wildred Owen and others [an example of pararhyme is found in Owen’s poem “Arms and the Boy” in which he rhymes in the early stanzas: blade:blood, flash:flesh — in other words different vowels, but opening and closing sounds of words, bracketing or running alongside or paralleling the vowel].
Rhyme Scheme: the pattern of rhymes in a poem. This is shown by assigning letters or numbers to the respective rhyme sounds and repeating the letter or number symbol for every repetition of the rhyme.
Meter: is a set or measured pattern of rhythm. In English, this is done by counting the number of accents per line, syllables per line, or both accents and syllables per line. This last meter (accentual-syllabic) is almost always achieved through the use of Metrical Feet.
Metrical Feet are building blocks measured rhythm [Meter] groups of syllables of accent and unaccent, repeated to make a regular sound pattern. The most important of these in English is the Iambic Foot (a unit of two syllables with the first unaccented and the second accented).
Scanning (or scansion): examining the rhythm of a poetic line by assigning each syllable an unaccent mark U or an accent mark / or a half accent/half stress mark \ . Also occasionally encountered is the pause in the line or caesura marked by double vertical bars ||.These are written in above the rough draft of the poetic lines to examine the metrical flow of language.
Types of the Sonnet
The earliest form of the Sonnet is the Italian or Petrarchan, so named because of the great Renaissance master, Francesco Petrarcha, who was the chief exponent of the form. Many early poets in English copied the criteria of the Italian Sonnet:
1) fourteen lines
2) iambic pentameter
3) two major divisions (octave-first 8 lines/sestet-last six lines)
4) octave rhyme scheme: ABBAABBA (rare is Sicilian Sonnet with Octave ABABABAB)
5) sestet rhyme scheme: various, but usually CDCDCD or CDECDE
SOME EXAMPLES OF THE ITALIAN FORM FOLLOW:
“On His Blindness” — John Milton
When I consider how my light is spent, A
Ere half my days, in this dark world and wide, B
And that one talent which is death to hide, B
Lodged with me useless, though my soul more bent A
To serve therewith my Maker, and present A
My true account, lest he returning chide; B
“Doth God exact day-labor, light denied?” B
I fondly ask. But Patience, to prevent A
That murmur, soon replies, “God doth not need C
Either man’s work or his own gifts; who best D
Bear his mild yoke, they serve him best. His state E
Is kingly: thousands at his bidding speed C
And post o’er land and ocean without rest: D
They also serve who only stand and wait.” E
“London, 1802” — William Wordsworth
Milton! thou shouldst be living at this hour:
England hath need of thee: she is a fen
Of stagnant waters: altar, sword, and pen,
Fireside, the heroic wealth of hall and bower
Have forfeited their ancient English dower
Of inward happiness. We are selfish men;
Oh! raise us up, return to us again;
And give us manners, virtue, freedom, power.
Thy soul was like a star, and dwelt apart: C
Thou hadst a voice whose sound was like the sea: D
Pure as the naked heavens, majestic, free, D
So didst thou travel on life’s common way, E
In cheerful godliness; and yet thy heart C
The lowliest duties on herself did lay. E
(An example of a variant sestet in this last example — the “rule” for the Italian Sonnets is to never end in a couplet — two lines rhyming together).
John Donne and Thomas Wyatt in the Metaphysical era in English literature varied the Petrarchan Form in sestet to make for a rhymed couplet in the last two lines to serve as a “clincher” statement. This variation is usually called a Wyatt’s Sonnet.
“Batter My Heart, Three-Personed God”
— John Donne
Batter my heart, three personed God, for you regular Italian Octave
As yet but knock, breathe, shine, and seek to mend;
That I may rise and stand, o’erthrow me and bend
Your force to break, blow, burn and make me new.
I, like an usurped town to another due;
Labor to admit you, but oh, to no end;
Reason, your viceroy in me, me should defend,
But is captived, or proves weak or untrue.
Yet dearly I love you and would be loved fain, C distinctive Sestet
But am betrothed unto your enemy: D
Divorce me, untie or break that knot again; C
Take me to you, imprison me, for I D
Except you enthrall me, never shall be free, E
Nor ever chaste, except you ravish me. E
[Note: an alternative sestet used by Wyatt was CDDCEE]
The most popular sonnet form in English has been the English or Shakespearian Sonnet, not invented by Shakespeare, but used by him in over 150 examples. Its wide popularity in English is due to the fact that it is simpler to write because of its less restrictive rhyme scheme of ABAB CDCD EFEF GG.
This rhyme pattern usually makes for a three-part sense division in the first three quatrains followed by a clincher couplet. The best examples are by — who else:
“That Time of Year Thou Mayst in Me Behold”
Sonnet 73 — William Shakespeare
That time of year thou mayst in me behold
When yellow leaves, or none, or few do hang
Upon those boughs which shake against the cold, 1st topic/theme
Bare ruined choirs where late the sweet birds sang.
In me thou seest the twilight of such day
As after sunset fadeth in the west,
Which by and by black night doth take away, 2nd topic/theme
Death’s second self, that seals up all the rest.
In me thou seest the glowing of such fire
That on the ashes of his youth doth lie,
As the death-bed whereon it must expire, 3rd topic/theme
Consumed with that which it was nourished by.
This thou perceiv’st, which makes thy love more strong, Clincher Couplet
To love that well which thou must leave ere long.
“
Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer’s Day?”
Sonnet 18- — William Shakespeare
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.
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimmed;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance, or nature’s changing course, untrimmed.
But thy eternal summer shall not fade
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st,
Nor shall Death brag thou wand’rest in his shade
When in eternal lines to time thou grow’st.
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
Edmund Spenser wasn’t content to write the simpler English Sonnet. He came up with a rhyme scheme of his own which combined the complexity of the Italian form with the basic pattern of the English. This variation with rhyme scheme of ABABBCBCCDCDEE is called — what else? — the Spenserian Sonnet:
“One Day I Wrote Her Name”
— Edmund Spenser
One day I wrote her name upon the strand,
but came the waves and washed it away:
Again I wrote it with a second hand,
but came the tide, and made my pains his prey.
Vain man, said she, that dost in vain assay
a mortal thing so to immortalize,
for I myself shall like to this decay,
and eek my name be wiped out likewise.
Not so, (quoth I) let baser things devise
to die in dust, but you shall live by fame:
my verse your virtues rare shall eternize,
and in the heavens write your glorious name.
Where whenas death shall all the world subdue,
our love shall live, and later life renew.
There are countless other examples of the above forms and many significant poets who could be studied only for their sonnets. Other possible rhyme schemes are, of course, almost innumerable, but another form sometimes encountered is the Terza Rima Sonnet: ABA/BCB/CDC/DED/EE.
Writing sonnets is a task that takes patience, a good sense of metrical rhythm, a good vocabulary, and a lot of hard work. Essential “tools of the trade” are:
1) a good dictionary
2) a rhyming dictionary (good bookstores have these)
3) a thesaurus (not the dinosaur, but something like Roget’s)
From my experience, sonnets (like most poems) “come to” the poet in KEY LINES. These lines are often the “clincher” final lines of the poem, or, conversely, the initial “starter” lines of a possible poem. Oftentimes, they are only a “seed” or a “stepping stone” to the final poem. Frequently, the poet begins with one line in mind about one subject and ends up going on an entirely different tangent to an entirely unexpected result.
One good way to get started at the writing of sonnets is to read many sonnets from various poets to get a “feel” for the form. Do a google search on “Sonnet” and see what turns up (you’ll be surprised).
Another good method to practice is to take the first line of a favorite or a famous sonnet and let it be your launching pad for a poem on a different tack. For example, take the first line of Shakespeare’s “That time of year thou mayst in me behold” and change the season from late autumn to spring or summer.
Yet another good method is to simply pick one of the sonnet forms to fit — say Italian. Look at your rhyming dictionary. You know that you need four “A” rhymes so you find a good group of rhyme words to provoke thought and inspiration. An example would be: “old,” “gold,” “bold,” “cold.” When I see those words I think of a medieval setting: bold knights, the old days, cold steel, and treasures of gold.
Another method, until one gets used to fitting sonnets with iambic meter is to experiment with either SYLLABIC METER or ACCENTUAL METER (or even WORD COUNT METRICS). As the names suggest, syllabic meter simply counts the number of syllables per line and does not “worry” about where the accents fall or how many of them there are.
Thus, a Syllabic Sonnet could simply hold to ten-syllable lines, approximating the iambic pentameter. [NOTE: You’ll likely be surprised how many of the lines actually scan as iambic, since English falls naturally into this rhythm: “Iambics flow like honey from the tongue. / We speak them from the time we’re very young.” Da Dum Da Dum Da Dum Da Dum Da Dum.
An Accentual Sonnet might well choose to count five accented syllables to the line and not care about the number of syllables. This too would approximate the “feel” of iambic pentameter in many lines, although the line lengths will almost certainly vary a bit — likely between 8 and 12 syllables in length.
A Word Count Sonnet is a bit trickier for regularity. After all, a “word” can be as short as “a,” “I,” or “O,” or as long as the name of the little Welsh village on the Isle of Anglesey:
Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch! So, if you choose Word Count Prosody (metrics) as a type, I’d suggest trying to stay with one, two, or — at the most — three-syllable words and use a base of 8 to 10 words per line.
Of course you can also make the sonnet easier by adding in the use or option of SLANT RHYME if the FULL RHYMES aren’t coming easily.
Let your imagination wander. An inspiration will come. Write your sonnet.
Some sonnets of mine:
THESE LEAVES FALLING ©
These leaves falling on October lawn,
Fossils numberless of the tall trees wings,
Land dead-middle in the mushroom rings.
Tree fingers lose their feel; the sap is drawn
Down from the tube tips. The summer brawn
Is gone or going now. Fall’s seasonings
Effect more than the trees. Its colorings
Pervade both flora and the close man-fawn
Who watches now as dawn is faintly red.
Here he will come to watch when fall has fled;
Here at this spot when the winds grow blow and brusk,
By tusks of the tall-fall, winter-splinter, husk on husk
Trees, he will stand and grow from the common bed
And wait with giant brothers for the russet dusk.
THE RACE ©
This final, fitful flurry falling down
Will melt soon, and the April grass will green.
And yet how quickly green will parch and brown
And summer fade to fall as all have seen.
Lessons from Nature? There may be a couple:
One in the wondrous cycle of rebirth;
One in that Time, relentlessly, on supple
Limbs, races against us for all we’re worth.
That some things last is clear each day at dawning.
That most things don’t is seen in every death.
Let not Time pass us as we stand ayawning,
But let us run ’til we are out of breath
And, stride for stride, beside him at the tape,
Fly on beside him in a better shape.
MOONSHADOWS ©
How quickly do the hours add up to days,
The days to weeks, the weeks to months and years!
Soon old Time in the old time-honored ways
Has made mere memories of joys and tears.
There was a time, my love, when each fleet minute
Was greeted as a new log for Life’s fire;
And each new day with all Love’s promise in it
Dawned on the journey toward our hearts’ desire.
And I remember evenings around sunset,
We two would walk until the summer stars
Were spinning overhead, before the onset
Of troubles and the wounds that left our scars.
And, hand in hand, moonshadows on the grass,
We walked in love we swore would never pass.
— Frank Coffman
