Welcome to Day 16 of my personal month-late NaPoWriMo challenge. You can check out my previous post here, or click here for Day 1.
Have you ever written a sonnet? It’s not the longest form poem ever, just 14 lines of iambic pentameter, but it’s certainly one of the most well known forms out there. If you haven’t written one, it’s never a bad time to start! I’m not going to lie to you, they can be tricky. But you can modify them a bit, especially if you’re doing a poem a day and writing in a very short amount of time.
Prompt 16: Sonnet
You can check out a more detailed explanation of a sonnet here, and you’ll notice there are several different varieties. For simplicity’s sake, since I’m an English speaker, here’s the form for the Shakespearean, or English sonnet. Remember, it’s 14 lines. The rhyme scheme is as follows: abab cdcd efef gg.
They’re usually also in iambic pentameter. That means there are 10 syllables per line, and each line begins with an unstressed syllable, with every other syllable stressed. This pattern is very natural in the English language. I often find that if I simply count syllables I end up with something resembling iambic pentameter. The key to writing a good form poem with a strict meter and rhyme scheme is to choose words that flow very naturally together so that they don’t feel forced. And trust me, you’ll know forced when you read it: anything you can tell you’re doing just to fit the form. That’s forced. I’m going to tell you right now, I personally find meter to be the hardest thing in poetry, but I really enjoy the challenge.
Here’s one of my favorite of Shakespeare’s sonnets to give you a taste of how this form can work, and here’s a more recent poem that I really like, which is also that type of sonnet.
If all the things you’re doing at once–counting syllables, keeping the iambic pattern, AND the rhyme scheme–get to be too much, try dropping some of them. I’ve written quite a few almost-sonnets and even just pieces of the form really work. I had the 14 lines, the rhyme scheme, and a great deal of iambic moments, but at some point I just said a big ol’ CeeLo Green “Forget You” (because those are totally the real words right? Wow, that reference is old.) to the meter, and it just started to flow really well. If you try nothing else about this form, try the rhyme scheme.
If you try this, or any of the prompts I’m sharing throughout this month, let me know! If you try a prompt on your blog, share the link! I’ll check it out.
I also love to read any thoughts or writing tips you may have. Feel free to share them in the comments!
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