How to Write a Sonnet
All sonnets have fourteen lines. What makes a sonnet a Shakespearean sonnet is that its fourteen lines rhyme like this:
Line 1 rhymes with line 3
Line 2 rhymes with line 4
Line 3 rhymes with line 1
Line 4 rhymes with line 2
Line 5 rhymes with line 7
Line 6 rhymes with line 8
Line 7 rhymes with line 5
Line 8 rhymes with line 6
Line 9 rhymes with line 11
Line 10 rhymes with line 12
Line 11 rhymes with line 9
Line 12 rhymes with line 10
Line 13 rhymes with line 14
Line 14 rhymes with line 13
Last, most sonnets have a volta, or a turning point. In a Shakespearean sonnet the volta usually begins at line 9.
An easy example of a turning point would be, lines 1-8 ask a question or series of questions and lines 9-14 answer the question or questions.
Our example sonnet would look like this:
he TURNED the FOURteenth GLASS and SAID, “beGIN.”
and I had FOURteen MINutes LEFT to LIVE;
and I had FOURteen UNrePENted SINS,
and FOURteen PEOple WHOM i WOULD forGIVE,
and FOURteen UNread BOOKS uPON my SHELF,
and FOURteen LOVES i KNEW i’d LOVED in VAIN,
and FOURteen DREAMS i’d KEPT withIN mySELF
(the FOURteen I’D most WANted TO exPLAIN.)
but FOURteen MINutes QUICKly PASSED aWAY.
i FILLED my PEN with FOURteen DROPS of INK-
the FOURteenth glass had offered one delay;
and fourteen final grains retained the brink.
this SONnet FLOWED like FOURteen FInal BREATHS-
the FOURteenth LINE, t

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