Search results
Learn about the history and features of sonnets, a type of poem with 14 lines and a specific rhyme scheme. Browse 13 sonnet poems by famous and contemporary poets, such as Shakespeare, Keats, Frost, and more.
- New Poems
What makes Family Friend Poems collection of published poems...
- Acrostic Poems
Definition of Acrostic Poems An acrostic poem is a poem...
- Halloween Sonnet
A Shakespearian Sonnet about none other than Halloween. When...
- There's No Obscurity
The poem, There's No Obscurity, is a Shakespearean-style...
- Acquainted With The Night
“Acquainted With The Night” was published in 1928. It has...
- Poems On Creativity
Poems On Creativity. Creativity comes in a variety of forms....
- Metaphor Poems
Exclusive We only publish contemporary poems which are not...
- How To Write Poetry
Famous Narrative Poems; Teaching Poetry; Back to Top. Browse...
- New Poems
Explore the classic form of verse that originated in Italy and expresses love, beauty, time, and mortality. Read sonnets by Keats, Shelley, Neruda, Donne, and more, and learn about their rhyme schemes, meters, and themes.
- Sonnet Definition
- Sonnet Examples
- Why Do Writers Choose to Write Sonnets?
- Other Helpful Sonnet Resources
- GeneratedCaptionsTabForHeroSec
What is a sonnet? Here’s a quick and simple definition: Some additional key details about sonnets: 1. For hundreds of years, the sonnet form was reserved for poems about unrequited love, but since the 17th century sonnets have been written about a wide variety of subjects. 2. Sonnets have become so popular, and are written in so many places, that o...
Sonnet in Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet"
The prologue to Shakespeare's famous verse drama Romeo and Juliet is written in the style of an English or "Shakespearean" sonnet, in iambic pentameter and with a rhyme scheme of ABAB CDCD EFEF GG.
Milton's "When I Consider How My Light is Spent"
Milton wrote sonnets that were not about unrequited love, breaking with the Petrarchan and Shakespearean traditions. Rather, Milton's sonnets were often meditations on life and death. This sonnet follows the traditional Petrarchan rhyme scheme of ABBA ABBA CDECDE.
Milton's "On the New Forcers of Conscience under the Long Parliament"
This 1646 sonnet is an example of the sonnet variation Milton created, known as "caudate sonnet," in which the traditional 14-line sonnet is followed by a brief concluding stanza or stanzas called a "coda." Notice Milton's use of indentation to denote places where the traditional sonnet's stanza breaks would occur—accentuating the first, fifth, ninth, and twelfth lines that would traditionally be the first lines of stanzas. The six lines of the coda are indented inversely to the system of ind...
As an early practitioner of the sonnet, the 13th century Italian poet Francesco Petrarch defined the sonnet's subject matter for centuries to come: until the 17th century, virtually all sonnets that were written in any language were, like Petrarch's sonnets, expressions of unrequited love. The sonnet's structure was well-suited to the subject becau...
Learn about the sonnet, a type of fourteen-line poem with various rhyme schemes and structures. Explore the Italian and English sonnet forms, and see examples by Petrarch and Shakespeare.
- My Mistress’ Eyes Are Nothing Like the Sun, by William Shakespeare (Shakespearean Sonnet) My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun; Coral is far more red than her lips' red;
- "Shall I Compare Thee To A Summers’ Day?" by William Shakespeare (Shakespearean Sonnet) Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate
- "That Time Of Year Thou Mayest In Me Behold" by William Shakespeare (Shakespearean Sonnet) That time of year thou mayst in me behold. When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang.
- "If There Be Nothing New, But That Which Is" by William Shakespeare (Shakespearean Sonnet) If there be nothing new, but that which is. Hath been before, how are our brains beguil'd,
Learn about the sonnet, a 14-line poem with a variable rhyme scheme, from different types and variations. Explore examples of Petrarchan, Italian, English, and other sonnets by famous poets.
Explore the famous sonnets of William Shakespeare, written in iambic pentameter and covering themes such as love, beauty, and mortality. Find modern English interpretations, publishing history, and sonnet dedications for each poem.
Learn about the sonnet, a poem of 14 lines with a rhyme scheme and a specific pattern. Explore the Italian, English, Spenserian, and Miltonic sonnets, and see examples from Petrarch, Shakespeare, and others.
