I will be the first to admit I am not an expert on William Shakespeare and his writing style, but within the past two months, I have written several Shakespearean style sonnets. At first it is tricky, but you should catch on after a little practice.
A Shakespearean sonnet is a poem that features 14 lines. The poem follows the rhyme scheme of: A,B,A,B,C,D,C,D,E,F,E,F,G,G.
This means that the rhymes found at the end of the same letter should rhyme. So if your first “A” line ends with fear, the second “A” line could end in hear.
Quatrains
A Shakespearean sonnet features three stanzas which consist of four lines and are called quatrains.
Couplet
The last two lines of a Shakespearean sonnet will rhyme with each other on consecutive lines.
Another vital part of the Shakespearean sonnet includes each line featuring just 10 syllables. This may be the most difficult part of the whole process. One suggestion I would make is to write your line as close to 10 syllables as possible, but don’t worry too much. You can go back and revise later on.
This is how each line is structured. There are five feet in a line. Feet consist of an unstressed word, followed by a stressed word. That will make one foot. A partial example of this would be “to Be, or Not, to Be.” In this sentence, the lower cased words are unstressed words.
When you think you have what you’re looking for, go back and count the syllables. From there, it should be easier to change words and get to ten syllables. Not every line is required to be 10 syllables, as some may only work with nine or eleven, but it should be as close as possible. Make sure to read the poem aloud several times. This should help you find faults in your lines.
I’ve included a sonnet I wrote that doesn’t completely follow the rules of a Shakespearean sonnet, but for each author, it could be a judgment call.
Love
Love is something that you should not avoid,
Some people fight the feeling, but to no avail.
Without a feeling, there is a big void,
Find one that you can forever hail,
Is an emotion that can’t be beaten,
Whether it is the one you marry or not,
Whether it is the one that left you smitten.
It is an emotion to have a lot,
It is eventual and will not harm,
Since it is inevitable to feel,
You should welcome it with open arms,
For something it does, it certainly heals,
It is better than being so lonely,
For its great to find you one and only.
As you can see, I don’t have exactly 10 syllables in each line, but all rhymes match up well and it goes with the style Shakespeare used.
