How to write a sonnet

How to write a sonnet? Everything you will need is provided below:

a correct definition for a sonnet

instructions on how to write a sonnet in ten easy steps
a detailed analysis of the ten-step writing process

A sonnet is ...
... a fourteen-line poem with a regular rhythm which also rhymes. It shows a
movement or development in ideas or feelings between the first eight lines and the final
six. Often the final six lines conclude with a rhyming couplet (two-liner) about the
sonnets overall concept or theme.

Sonnets fall into two main types:

The English sonnet, which is made up of three sections of four lines each followed by
one rhyming couplet
The slightly older Romance or Italian sonnet, which is formed in two sections, of eight
lines and six lines respectively

There are other forms. But these two are the usual types.

How to write a sonnet: ten-step method

So, knowing this, if you would like even more details about how to write a sonnet, the
following step-by-step method may help.

Further down the page, I analyse each step one at a time with examples of how the
writing process can develop.

HOW TO WRITE A SONNET

1. Decide the purpose and audience of the sonnet.

2. Choose a specific topic (not the title, yet).
3. List things you could say about your topic.
4. Find a relationship between the ideas, audience and purpose.
5. Write down a 14-line sequence of statements.
6. Convert the 14 lines into rhyming iambic pentameter (five beats to a line, da-DA
da-DA da-DA da-DA da-DA).
7. Note specific problem areas.
8. Edit the sonnet.
9. Choose a title.
10. When its done, let it be.