are sperian sonnets written iambic pentameters

When in disgrace with Fortune and men’s eyes, (A)Īnd trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries, (A)Īnd look upon myself and curse my fate, (B)

Here, a picture is worth a thousand words: What is cool about sonnets is that it forces a poet to be incredibly precise with their language, and it creates a brief and melodic form of poetry that is pleasing to the ear, enjoyable to read, and which deals with some great philosophical truth that all people can (or should be) able to relate to on a deep emotional and intellectual level. Other more modern poets use different rhyme schemes to write their sonnets, but all adhere to the basic fourteen line model. (See how I am able to get in all of my fun poetry vocabulary!) A sonnet, the way I am first teaching you, is a fourteen line poem that is written in “rhymed, iambic pentameter,” meaning it has three rhyming “ quatrains” followed by a single rhyming “ couplet.”. Sooo, what is a sonnet? In writing sonnets, the emphasis is placed on exactness and perfection of expression. I have written “unrhymed sonnets” (See below) that follow the thematic and metric structure of sonnets, but I have only written a few classical Shakespearean or Italian sonnet. Writing a good sonnet is going to be a tough practice-for me, too.

By the same logic, tough practices make for better (though not necessarily happier) athletes. After years of coaching football and wrestling, it is all too obvious to me that lazy practices make for lazy athletes. It is a cruel task master who asks his or her students to “do” what he or she has not done themselves-and so it is with the writing of strict sonnets-but it is a task I will also undertake if only to know the difficulties I am forcing upon you.

Are sperian sonnets written iambic pentameters