Sonnet- Max Kaufman

Learning to Write a Sonnet

The sonnet form is old and full of dust
And yet I want to learn to write one well.
To learn new forms and grow is quite a must,
But I will learn it quickly, I can tell.

And so I sit, today, with pen in hand,
Composing three new quatrains with a rhyme.
The rhythm flows like wind at my command.
The A-B-A-B form consumes my time.

But I’m not done until there’s fourteen lines.
One ending couplet, after three quatrains.
I’ve tried to write this new form several times.
The effort’s huge; I have to rack my brain.

But I persist, my fourteen lines now done.
I wrote my poem; my sonnet work is won.

by Denise Rodgers
Copyright© Denise Rodgers
All Rights Reserved
Photo by Denise Rodgers

 This is a Shakespearean sonnet because it features 3 quatrains and a couplet. It also is written in iambic pentameter and has the rhyme scheme ABAB-CDCD-EFEF-GG. The volta of this sonnet is after the 12th line, marked by the beginning of the couplet. The volta is stressing the way that the poet overcame the burden of writing a sonnet and how they are now finished with the poem. The first quatrain serves as an explanation of what a sonnet is and the place it holds today in English class. The second quatrain is explaining the rhyme scheme, and the third is discussing the line structure. I choose this sonnet because there is no sonnet more applicable to learning about sonnets. This sonnet is speaking on the difficulty surrounding the composing of sonnets.