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Poetry Form - The Sonnet : Formal Poetry

written by Poet : Doctor-Write



If you have taked the time to stop and escape the mad dash of life . Thank you for read my article on the Sonnet .

 By Doctor Write 

If you  have never written a sonnet you are probably thinking 'I'll turn over the next page,' but wait; everyone is capable of writing a sonnet.© Denise Aldridge 2001
     There are a couple of sonnet structures, the most popular being the Shakespearean or English. It bears Shakespeare's name not because he was the first to use it but because his sonnets in this pattern are the most famous in English literature. Before Shakespeare's sonnet, the Petrarchan or Italian sonnet was practised.
     Sonnets are written in iambic pentameter, have fourteen lines and a certain rhyme scheme.
     Iambic pentameter is a metre which for some reason strikes fear into the hearts of aspiring poets. This pattern is composed of two syllables - the first unstressed and the second, stressed. There are five of these groups of two syllables across a line of poetry such as a sonnet. Each group is called a foot so a sonnet has five foot in each line.
     Are you feeling stressed? Don't be. It all works out in the end. Count the stressed syllables on your fingers - no one is looking.

Below is Shakespeare's Sonnet No. 30. The unstressed syllables are denoted with 'x' and the stressed syllables with '/'. Sometimes in poetry books you will see the unstressed syllables are denoted by 'u'. When to the sessions of sweet silent thought                             I summon up remembrance of things past,
I sigh the lack of many a thing I sought,
And with old woes new wail my dear time's waste:
Then can I drown an eye, unused to flow,
For precious friends hid in death's dateless night,
And weep afresh love's long-since-cancell'd woe,
And moan th' expense of many a vanish'd sight:
Then can I grieve at grievances foregone,
And heavily from woe to woe tell o'er
The sad account of fore –bemoaned moan,
Which I new pay as if not paid before
But if the while I think on thee, dear friend,
All losses are restored and sorrows end
The last two lines, thirteen and fourteen are called a couplet and rhyme with each other.
     Usually, in the first eight lines, a problem is posed and then in the next six lines, the poem reaches a solution.
     These days, we do not need to write in Old English if we wish to write a sonnet, and although sonnets are equated with romance, we can write satirical sonnets also.

     In this article we won't even discuss the rhyme scheme of the Italian Sonnet. If, however, you would like to write an English sonnet, humorous or romantic, using the seven words: feel; take; light: know; there; lost free, for the end words of seven of your lines - (you need to think of seven corresponding rhyming words), please do so There is something so satisfying about completing a sonnet.

  • The first and second line could be:
    Each evening as I sit alone, I feel
    You near to me; and dreaming, kisses take,

    or, the sonnet could be humorous:

    The flu injection brings me pain, I feel
    that all the pills and potions that I take
  •     Enjoy writing your sonnet, which may be based on the above words or any others that you choose, and remember, there is absolutely no truth in the rumour that iambic pentameter is the scientific name for a nasty medicine.

    © Denise Aldridge 2001
  • http://users.mullum.com.au/jbird/YM-sonnet-aldridge.html
  • Sonnet: (Shelly Folkestad)
    A poem that is written with the use of rhyme and pattern.  The rhyme is noticeable
    and the pattern is in meters.

    • An example would be  the poem When in Disgrace with Fortune and Men's Eyes.  The poem demonstrates the use of rhythmetic pattern  about every other word of the line.  For example some of the words were eyes, cries, hope, scope, etc.
  • http://www.northern.edu/benkertl/poetry_dictionary.html#S
  •  

    Other Examples

    Red Blushed And All Cut Up
    By Paul McCann


    Talking to myself there
    Someone had overheard.
    I was lost for a word.
    There was nothing to share.
    Embarrassed I was there.
    Left awkward and absurd .
    A broken wingless bird.
    With nowhere to fly there.
    Caught red faced there was I.
    Didn't want to be seen.
    I just wanted to die.
    I just wanted to scream.
    I'm so terribly shy.
    Lost for words it would seem.

    Escape From The Sad Heart

    By Paul McCann

    Sad heart please disguise
    For I cannot hide
    how I feel inside
    Tears behind my eyes
    My sad hearts capsized
    Shipwrecked by the tide.
    My thoughts start to slide
    Into a sunrise
    Its there I escape
    Like a bird in flight
    There I feel the shape
    of ships in the night
    On a lost landscape
    far away from sight

    Her Wilting Regrets

    By Paul McCann

    She was found to wilt .
    With words she scours .
    Ivory towers .
    The thick walls she built .
    Well tarnished with guilt .
    She hides , she cowers .
    In empty bowers .
    With her red wine spilt .
    She can never sip .
    And she has not health .
    She's buttoned her lip .
    She hears no one else .
    In walls ten miles thick,
    she grieves for herself

     

    By The Creek

    By Paul McCann

    I escaped down to the creek today .
    I lost my way and wished you would come
    I sat down on the grass in the sun,
    In the silence I began to pray .
    In the water some stepping stones lay
    where my reflections just had begun .
    Your presence I felt had overcome,
    I was not lost and alone that day .
    I walked away and stood on a stone .
    In the water I saw the blue sky.
    You came to me in a quiet place.
    In reflective prayer I'm not alone
    with the sound of water flowing by,
    on stepping stones I walk in Gods grace
     

     

      Always In Waiting
     By Paul McCann

     I could tell you of a morning when the dark night has passed by,

    my love everything will be all right there is no need to fear.

    I would tell you everything if only you could be near.

    There is a place that awaits us, beyond space, after we die .

    Let me take you in my arms, let my love give you wings to fly .

    I know how confused things are but someday it will all be clear .

    Don't fill your head with silly notions, true love is alway here.

    I could sing you love songs, recite poems but then you might cry .

    I could talk about what the future holds for you and for me .

    We could open a book and discover how it all begun .

    I could tell you how the cross was carried up to Calvary .

    I could tell you of the Father, I could tell you of the Son .

    I could tell you of the Spirit, third part of the Trinity ,

    there are so many things to say but I'll wait until you come .

     

    By Doctor Write 

    Originally Posted On Site: 2008-03-01 23:41:12
    Last Login: 05.21.12


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