Accompanying Video
SONNETS MADE EASY
A sonnet is a poem whose structure and content meet specific standards. Its success
relies on exactness and perfection of expression. It is an art form that truly challenges a
poet’s artistry and skill.
Structure:
In general, a sonnet is a fourteen-line poem where each line is written in a particular
musical rhythm called iambic pentameter. In addition, these fourteen lines have to
conform to a specific rhyme scheme.
Don’t be confused or put off by the term iambic pentameter. An iamb is simply a two-
syllable unit of sound where the first syllable is unaccented and the second is accented.
Words like today, forget, and garage are iambs. If you say these words aloud, you will
notice that you accent the second syllable more strongly than the first.
Pentameter means measure (meter) of five (penta). So iambic pentameter simply means
five iambs to each line. Check this line out: “Today I will forget to weep for you” Can
you identify the five iambs?
On to rhyme scheme: Rhyme scheme simply means the pattern made by the ending
sounds of each line.
Consider this:
Please listen to my voice above them all,
So you, my friend, be spared the pain and grief
Of failing, falling hard against that wall
Which makes a time of happiness so brief.
We mark the rhyme scheme of a poem by using the alphabet. The first line’s ending
sound is given the letter “A.” Any similar ending sounds in that poem also are given the
letter “A.” The next new end-of-the-line sound is given the letter “B,” the next “C,” and
so on.
The four lines above have the rhyme scheme A,B,A,B. See?
