how to make a sonnet with iambic pentameter

If you're trying a Shakespearean sonnet, you'll be rhyming with only the third (ABAB CDCD). If you're writing an Italian sonnet, you already know your first line will rhyme with the fourth, fifth, and eighth lines (ABBAABBA). Your teacher may appreciate it if you choose an unusual topic.Īfter the first line, depending on the type of sonnet you're writing, you already know at least one of your rhyme sounds, so you can plan ahead a little. But your poem can be about anything at all just keep in mind the pattern of alternating unstressed and stressed syllables. So is 'I'll never understand this algebra' (more or less-but who knows what you'll rhyme with 'algebra' better to go with 'I'll never understand geometry.'). 'I miss him more than usual today,' for instance, is an iambic sentence. Once you start thinking about it, you may be surprised how many sentences and phrases will fit into the pattern. Once you've got your sonnet memorized, you may want to imagine the author looking over your shoulder and offering encouragement. If you're having trouble 'thinking in iambic pentameter,' it may help to memorize a sonnet (this is easier than it might sound). As far as getting started, I think the easiest way is just to think of an iambic pentameter line-maybe one from a well known sonnet-and try to say something natural, modeled on that.

I've gotten a lot of mail lately about writing sonnets. New! Some advice for starters from the Sonnet Board.

How to make a sonnet with iambic pentameter