HOW TO WRITE AN AMERICAN SONNET IN 500 WORDS
Intended for writers 18 years or older who are new to poetry or writing in the English language for the first time.
This is a technical introduction with diagrams, not a thematic or historical guide.
Why no rhyming?
1: that topic is covered better elsewhere
2: it would make the other parts of this guide needlessly complex.
Good evening friends. It is evening somewhere.
This article is intended for adult beginners and ESL learners, not children. It doesn’t cover rhyming.
WHAT IS A SONNET?
A sonnet, sometimes capitalized but not always, is a medium length poem of 14 lines and around 140 syllables.
In general, if you hear an English speaker say “sonnet,” they always mean:
1: a poem of 14 lines and 140 syllables
2: a poem with a volta, or turn
3: a poem that should be compared with other sonnets.
This article focuses on the American Sonnet, derived from the Shakespearian sonnet.
CAUTION: these two sonnets are vulgar. The first is about sex, the second defines an American sonnet.
Examples:
Kink
- Imani Davis.
Motherfuckers Talking Shit About American Sonnets
- Sam Cha (free interview)
HOW TO WRITE A SONNET, WITH DIAGRAMS
1: pick a topic
2: take your notebook or laptop and make 14 separate lines. Divide them like this
—- Quatrain 1 (a stanza of four lines)
—-
—-
—-
—- Quatrain 2 (a stanza of four lines)
—-
—-
—-
—- Quatrain 3 (a stanza of four lines)
—-
—-
—-
Volta
____ Concluding Couplet
_____
3: now write “10” next to each line so it looks like this:
10: —- Quatrain 1
10: —-
10:—-
10: —-
10: —- Quatrain 2
10: —-
10:—-
10: —-
10: —- Quatrain 3
10: —-
10:—-
10: —-
Volta
10:——— Concluding Couplet
10:_____
The rest of this essay will be in decasyllabic (10 syllable) meter.
UNDERSTANDIN’ SYLLABLES
Hello again, now we are writing in
the deep, wonderful land of syllables!
please use this site, https://syllablecounter.net/count
to check your own work - I’m usin’ it here.
BEGINNER DEFINITIONS: “Scansion”, “Inflection”, “Sonnet Length”.
Scansion: the art of marking up the sounds
of a poem by noting accent marks.
Please notice I used “art” and not skill, this
is because how a poem is spoken
depends on the speaker’s own dialect:
I pronounce “water bottle as “wudderboddle”.
INFLECTION: whether you pronounce a word
high or low, or you say it fast or slow.
You should check inflection word by word. Just
make sure that nothing sounds “off”, “quick,” or “rushed.
Sonnet Length: a sonnet should be about
one minute when read out loud. It can be
rushed to 20 or 30 seconds. Remember
that it should never take longer than 90.
THE VOLTA:
This is the surprise of the poem. In a diagram
—- the train leaves
—-
—-
—-
—-- the train picks up speed
—--
—-
—-
—-- there’s something in the road
—--
—--
—--
in this gap, put all your emotion
—
— the train arrives five feet to the left of where it wanted to
In English, volta just means “the turn,” and
it is less surprising than a plot twist,
but more of a jump then a stanza break.
SAMPLE OUTLINE OF A SONNET
—- a childhood hospital
—-
—-
—-
—- its smells and who you met there
—--
—-
—-
—- why you can’t go back
—-
—
—
— but who you wold go back for
—
3 TIPS:
One, write smells, two, write short, three, leave em hanging.
About the author, and B.H.L.Ms paid offerings:
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Tied for first place in the 2023 “Pushing the Art Forward” superlative at the Northbeast Regional
Burned Haibun Literature Magazine is a 100% for profit small business in the Northeast of the U.S. Fish is an experienced teleteacher at the “poet’s poet” level and a frequent guest instructor 100 level at the Boston University Center for Psychiatric Rehabilitation, for the NITEO Program.
She has also taught at the Cantab Lounge, the 2023 and 2024 Northbeast Regionals (as a pinch-hitter backup then a billed teacher for her haiku workshop), and extensively as a member of the Self Educating Poet’s Network, the Cambridge City Hall Lawn (featuring Sam Cha) and the H-Mart Food Court in Central Square (with various Cantabbers in the wee days of the Poetry Seance).
She was a regular at Cantab from it’s re-opening until 2023. She attends less frequently now following changes to her health and work schedule necessitating early mornings.
Her current writing collectives are the Chickadees, with Head Flocker Ebein Bein, and the Trident Poetry Collective. In the past she was with Surreal Times and founded Surreal Times Boston (defunct, she let the domain expire instead of an official announcement, the Pandemic ended the in person options to continue it).
At time of writing she is on a partial medical leave from local in person communities while she physically recovers. She is an early riser.