Shakespearean Sonnet

Here are the rules to a Shakespearean Sonnet:

* fourteen lines
* strict rhyme scheme: ABAB CDCD EFEF GG
* three quatrains
* one couplet
* iambic pentameter: duh DUH duh DUH duh DUH duh DUH duh DUH
* this is an argument that builds
* first quatrain: an exposition of the main theme and main metaphor
* second quatrain: theme and metaphor extended with some imaginative example
* third quatrain: a twist or conflict, often introduced by a "but"
* couplet: summarizes and leaves the reader with a new, concluding image

It sounds more complicated than it is. This is a reason to challenge yourselves, and I hope you will. There are some amazing writers on here, and I can't wait to see what you all come up with.

* you are allowed two entries
* old entries allowed
* no collabs please
* positive feed back is fine
* no negative comments
* no other unrelated talk
* YOU MUST HAVE A TITLE TO QUALIFY
* I feel the need to add that "Old English" is not required by any means

okay, enough rules for now

I will not be judging this, but all of you will be in a forum poll at the end of this competition.

Don't forget to have fun!


One of the most famous sonnets, is a great example of this:


Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? (Sonnet 18)
    by William Shakespeare   

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate.
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date.

Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimmed;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance, or nature's changing course, untrimmed;

But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st,
Nor shall death brag thou wand'rest in his shade,
When in eternal lines to Time thou grow'st.

So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.



I want to add one more, It has a modern twist and explains sonnets at the same time.

Learning to Write a Sonnet
by Denise Rodgers

The sonnet form is old and full of dust
And yet I want to learn to write one well.
To learn new forms and grow is quite a must,
But I will learn it quickly, I can tell.

And so I sit, today, with pen in hand,
Composing three new quatrains with a rhyme.
The rhythm flows like wind at my command.
The A-B-A-B form consumes my time.

But I’m not done until there’s fourteen lines.
One ending couplet, after three quatrains.
I’ve tried to write this new form several times.
The effort’s huge; I have to rack my brain.

But I persist, my fourteen lines now done.
I wrote my poem; my sonnet work is won.

ANOTHER ADD:
I had a good question PM'd to me. I realized not everyone will know this.


Okay, so an iambic foot is an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable.

In Shekespear's Sonnet 12:
da DUH da DUH da DUH da DUH da DUH
when I do COUNT the CLOCK that TELLS the TIME

Pentameter indicates that the line has five of these feet.
Penta comes from pentagon, which has 5 sides.

So, 10 syllables.

I'm not going to be a witch about it though. :)

Oh dear.

I like. :)

Sounds like an interesting challenge Rachel.  Do you have an example Sonnet? it will help me with grasping how it should be written.

Magdalena said:Sounds like an interesting challenge Rachel.  Do you have an example Sonnet? it will help me with grasping how it should be written.

Yes, of course.

Just added it. :)

raorrick said:[quote-108395-Magdalena]Sounds like an interesting challenge Rachel.  Do you have an example Sonnet? it will help me with grasping how it should be written.

Yes, of course.

Just added it. :)[/quote]

Thank you

Doth thou see...


Doth thou see,
commeth ye who comprehend,
darkness’s inevitability?
All that begins must come to an end.

Woeful and tasteless life,
bothersome thou hath become,
get thee behind me and my strife,  
with your tribulations and infirmed affliction.

Sweet nightingale wilt thou sing
a soul-soothing melody
to remove love’s sting,
fading for a while this travesty?

Be thou my vision, nightingale, of my mine
the balm that heals my heart’s woeful malign.

Gypsy red

The Company of Gods

Who’d want to keep the company of gods?
They’re vain, ill-tempered, selfish and unfair;
In any game they’ll always rig the odds.
They never lose, they don’t know how to share.
The Greek lot never played by any rules,
Zeus lied and cheated, threw his weight about,
Sated his lust, treated men like fools,
Devoid of pity, conscience or self-doubt.
But would the Bible’s God be to your taste?
Can you imagine having Him round to dinner?
Vindictive, vengeful, always laying waste,
And it’s hell for ever for the poor, weak sinner.
No, gods, I think, should entertain themselves,
Along with monsters, fairies, gnomes and elves.

@ Gypsy Red, YAY! Thanks for being my first entry!!!

@ Ceejay, great iambic parameter used :)

My fall into love

If I would describe my fall into love
I would say it was beautiful yet hard
You have fear that you are not good enough
Deep down inside you feel this in your heart

First sight is magical in its own way
Breaking free of your chest, your heart flies high
It flies beyond the sky, the clouds, and space
Past the spheres and light years of shining ice

The first passion, of the touch of their lips
Tingles inside your skin, your bones, and core
You want to stay frozen in time, right then
In a way, time does stop, you will want more

Love is, at the very best, wonderful
and at the worst, very very hurtful


I hope this works for the comp Rachel, I still think I don't got the duh DUH thing down right

Evening in front of a computer

The day is done and yet it lingers
On the eve of this sultry evening
The wind passes on the house’s eaves
Encourages poets fertile imagining

As the bells of the churches ring
An old love song begin its whispers
The lyrics in the hearts began to sing
And urge the pen to write the verses

Thus I write these stanzas true
To forge the words within this heart
To tell the story long overdue
Of love repudiated and extinguished light

I will begin to tell this tale
Soon on square pads, my elegant quill

Levi, Grace, wow! Great job both!!! Thanks for entering. :)

This Seed Divine



Planted in the fertile soil of sadness
A seed with passing time intesified
Unconventional Union of Finesse
Parralell lives of hearts doomed mummified

Brief stretches with no squandered drop of time
Served to pollinate a Love emerging
Through sep-er-ate paths of sep-er-ate lives
A buried ember still inside urging

Barely kindled amidst clamour outside
This Seed Divine yet managed to flourish
Amid infinite factors Fate applied
Into a Forest of Love most cherished

If We break shackles time`s still inflicting
An Eden Exists for Dreamers Willing

Name

Immortal life locked beneath a whisper
spoken softly withing anothers ear
My name lost in wind I will surrender
Must I be compared to a withered tear?

Like a dying rose my petals soon fall
All color gone, no sign of friendly hues
Sorrow consumes my mind I've lost it all
As I try to cope with unwelcome news.

But as my heart grows weak, cries out in song
Bitter tune wrapped in selfish lullabies
Death gave me his kiss, soon I will be gone
I wish there was more time for sweet goodbyes.

The memory of me I hope will stay
Or that you find my name along the way.  

I have just re-worked one of my recently written poems into this sonnet style.  Hope it's what you're asking for Rachel.


Blunt Hands Sharp Words Sonnet



From grace she fell into her long dark days
his hands were blunt and words ever sharp
tears the healing lotion on where she lays
kept in a secret box from those eyes so dark



Explanations to why she took a wrong breath
played out in her head before spoken into  cold
falling on a disbelieving sound touching death
tension rose unbending dominance took a hold



In face forward of a hard place to be she stood
against all odds her walls held firm against him
tormenting in double time the entities of no good
her sanity stayed as she drew her sword with vim



With her visual blade and sharp words she cut
out his black heart one for two not an if or a but






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