Mammoth Memory

Sonnet

A sonnet is a one-stanza poem of fourteen lines, written in iambic pentameter, and rhyming according to a prescribed scheme.

Originally created by Petrarch (Petrarchan sonnet), the form was made famous by William Shakespeare.

A sonnet is a 14 line single stanza poem

The son’s net (sonnet) wasn’t used. He was only fourteen (fourteen lines). Dad used his spear (Shakespeare) and caught a pen who said: “I am a pen” (iambic pentameter).

Shakespeare’s Sonnet 18 is a well-known example:

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Shakespearean sonnet

A sonnet is a one-stanza poem of fourteen lines written in iambic pentameter.

The rhyme scheme (the last word of each line) of a Shakespearean sonnet is:

ABAB CDCD EFEF GG

Each letter above stands for one of the fourteen lines, and lines that have the same letter have the same rhyme at the end.

Structure of a sonnet

No wonder it's called shakespearean - it makes my eyes shake! 

If we look at Shakespeare’s Sonnet 18 again, we can see this pattern:

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