Writing the Sonnet Form

The sonnet is 14 lines of iambic pentameter with a strict rhyme scheme. Shakespearean: ABAB CDCD EFEF GG. Petrarchan: ABBAABBA CDECDE. Both demand precision and reward it.

The volta (turn) is crucial. In Shakespearean, it typically happens at line 9. Problem becomes question becomes answer. "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? / Thou art more lovely and more temperate..." The final couplet should land hard. The volta is your poem's revolution.

Write a dozen sonnets. They'll feel rigid at first. But constraints force invention. You'll discover new words, new thinking. Sonnets train you.