Learn to Write a Sonnet: An Introductory Course
Congratulations! You have almost everything you need (the average adult knows around 30,000 words). Now it's time for some tools, training and lots of practice.
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They say trial and error...error...etc... is the best instructor. That's one reason I love the Onegin stanza (it's the hardest one, especially with that extra foot added!). I've learned more from trying my hand at it than from any book on poetry. Our end goal is the Onegin stanza, but on our way there we learn the other sonnet types, too.
You can apply what you've learned to odes, free verse, rap, songs and prose. You will be amazed at your own wordsmith capacity. The best part is this is only the beginning.
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I look forward to seeing you in class.
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Masculine and Feminine Rhymes
masculine ends in a stress ( / ), feminine in
a non-stress ( _ )
Anapest
A foot with three
syllables:
non-stressed ( _ )
non-stressed ( _ )
stressed ( / )
Amphibrach
A foot with three
syllables:
non-stress ( _ )
stress ( / )
non-stress ( _ )
Dactyl
A foot with three syllables:
stressed ( / )
non-stressed ( _ )
non-stressed ( _ )
Amphimacer
A foot with three syllables:
stressed ( /)
non-stressed ( _ )
stressed ( /)
Iamb
A foot with two syllables:
non-stressed ( _ )
stressed ( / )
The basic foot for sonnets
and
heroic verse
Iambic Pentameter
penta = five
meter = measures
Iambic Pentameter is five
iambs in a row.
They are the building blocks
of sonnets (in English)
Trochee
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A foot with two syllables:
stressed ( / )
non-stressed ( _ )
The opposite of the iamb