How Do You Write A Sonnet Like Shakespeare?
Shakespeare’s sonnets are considered the greatest examples in the genre, though Italians might argue that Petrarch’s are better. If you want to write a sonnet like Shakespeare, it is best to learn from him, but don’t try to imitate him. Because he lived more than 400 years ago, it is best to try to adapt his form to modern concerns and imagine how he might write today. Read a collection of Shakespeare’s sonnets, and take notes about the poems that strike you as especially powerful, marking down any images, feelings or phrases that stand out. Notice how many different topics he addresses: love; friendship; anger; lust; ambition; and jealousy. Try to determine if the sonnets tell a story. (Some critics see the sonnets as telling the story of a love affair; others find them to be about a young man trying to achieve fame. Still others see them simply as individual poems with little connection among them.) Note the form of the sonnet. The number of lines, the number of syllables per line an
