Sonnets are short lyric poems, fourteen lines long. They have definite rhyme schemes. There are several variations of the form; the most prominent are the Italian (Petrarchan) and the English (Shakespearean).

Read Before You Write

The best way to get started writing any formal poetry is to read the form you want to write -- the more the better. Let it become familiar, so that you get a feel for its rhythm and its structure, before you pick up a pen.

There are examples of the Italian sonnet in English. Sir Thomas Wyatt wrote some of the first Petrarchan sonnets in English, and they're available online, but if you're not used to the English of his day, you may find them cryptic. I'd recommend reading Elizabeth Barrett Browning's instead.

Once you've soaked up the form, it's time to look at it analytically.

The Petrarchan Sonnet: The Form

The Petrarchan sonnet is divided into two sections, the octave and the sestet.

The octave, or the first eight lines of the sonnet, present the reader with a problem, a question, or a matter of discontent: they introduce tension. The rhyme scheme is abba abba.

The sestet, or the last six lines, present the solution, an answer, a change in perspective, a return to contentment: they resolve the tension. The beginning of the change, around the start of the sestet, is called the volta, or turn.

You can use any of several rhyme schemes for the sestet:

cdc cdc
cdd cdc
cde cde
cde ced
cde edc

Petrarchan sonnets written in Italian were often written in six-beat lines, or an 11-syllable line called the hendecasyllable. But the most common English sonnet meter is iambic pentameter, regardless of whether the sonnet is Petrarchan or Shakespearean.

Iambic pentameter is a meter with a five-beat line, with a pattern of unaccented and accented syllables like so:

da dum da dum da dum da dum da dum

The Petrachan Sonnet: An Example, Analyzed

Milton's "On His Blindness" is perhaps the best-known Petrarchan sonnet in English:

The Octave: the Problem

a When I consider how my light is spent,
b Ere half my days, in this dark world and wide,
b And that one talent which is death to hide,
a Lodged with me useless, though my soul more bent
a To serve therewith my maker, and present
b My true account, lest he returning chide,
b Doth God exact day-labour, light denied?
a I fondly ask; but Patience to prevent

The volta begins in line 8, as the attitude shifts -->

The Sextet: the Resolution

c That murmur, soon replies, God doth not need
d Either man's work or his own gifts, who best
e Bear his mild yoke, they serve him best, his state
c Is kingly. Thousands at his bidding speed
d And post o'er land and ocean without rest:
e They also serve who only stand and wait.

Note that Milton's pentameter is not perfectly regular. Many poets write lines that vary from the base rhythm slightly, particularly in a long work, to prevent a sing-song effect.

Writing the Sonnet

Writers approach their work in various ways, and it's rash to make too-definite pronouncements about the best ways to go about it. But here is what I'd suggest, now that you understand the form:

1. Decide what you want to say. What question and what answer will you present? What problem and what solution?
2. Write.
3. I use a process called 'rolling revisions.' If I don't finish a piece in one session, I revise yesterday's work before I move on to today's. But some writers find it more helpful to keep going where they left off, and to revise only at the end.
4. When you've finished the poem, set it aside until you can come back to it with a fresh eye.
5. Then reread it. Did you stumble over the rhythm anywhere? -- Was it not obvious how to read the line? That's a place where you probably want to revise. If you used any kind of imagery, does it bring a sensory impression to mind? If it doesn't, revise. Are any of the sentences unclear? Revise. You may find it helpful to read the poem aloud.

In another hub, I'll add a tutorial about how to write a Shakespearean sonnet, and discuss some of the other sonnet variations.

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