Directory of Sonnet Resources

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The sonnet, attributed to Petrarch in the early Italian renaissance, is a fourteen-line poem that in its original form had the rhyme scheme abba abba cdecde. It was later adapted in England by Wyatt and Surrey with the rhyme scheme abab cdcd efef gg. This later form is sometimes called the English sonnet (the earlier one being the Italian sonnet). However, since Shakespeare used the English form, it is also often referred to as the Shakespearean sonnet. Both types of sonnets are written in iambic pentameter.

Subcategories

• Shakespeare

Resources in This Category

• About.com Poetry: Sonnets

  http://poetry.about.com/od/sonnets/
  A collection of sonnets, definitions of the various sonnet forms, and links to sonnet sites.

• An Italian Sonnet

  http://www.lnstar.com/mall/james/italiansonnet.htm
  By James DeFord.

• Brother and Sister

  http://rpo.library.utoronto.ca/poems/brother-and-sister
  An eleven sonnet sequence by George Eliot.

• Connections: Poetry: Forms: The Sonnet

  http://www.math.grin.edu/~simpsone/Connections/Poetry/Forms/sonnet1.html
  A three-page description of the form with examples by Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Shakespeare.

• Empire Arts Resource

  http://www.empirecontact.com/sonnets/
  Sonnets by Michael J. Farrand.

• John Donne - Holy Sonnets

  http://theotherpages.org/poems/donne02.html
  Nineteen sonnets on religious themes.

• Michael Peach's Site for Lovers of The English Sonnet

  http://www.michaelpeach.org/
  Sonnets by Peach and a selection of sonnets by his favorite poets.

• Personality Quiz - What Poetry Form Am I?

  http://quiz.ravenblack.net/poeticform.pl?q=1&a=10
  A sonnet that describes the "personality" of a sonnet. With html code for transferring the sonnet to your site and links to "personality quizzes" for other poetic forms.

• Poetry Knowledge Zone: The Soulful Sonnet

  http://www.boloji.com/index.cfm?md=Content&sd=KnowledgeZone&KnowledgeZoneID=13
  Explanation, history, and step-by-step writing instructions by Smitha Chakravarthula. Includes examples.

• Shakespeare's Sonnets

  http://www.shakespeare-online.com/sonnets/
  The complete sonnets with an analysis and translation into Modern English of selected poems.

• Sonnet Central

  http://www.sonnets.org/
  "An archive of English sonnets, commentary, pictures, audio, and relevant web links."

• Sonnets for Free

  http://www.poemsforfree.com/sonnets.html
  A collection by Nicholas Gordon that can be used free for any personal or non-commercial purpose.

• Sonnets from the Portuguese

  http://theotherpages.org/poems/ebb01.html
  Text of Elizabeth Barrett Browning's sonnets.

• Sonnettics

  http://www.sonnettics.com/category/sonnets/
  Sonnets by Scott Ennis. Part of a larger site that includes and invites videos of sonnets.

• The Amazing Web Site of Shakespeare's Sonnets

  http://www.shakespeares-sonnets.com/
  Shakespeare's sonnets with extensive, line-by-line commentary and illustrations from the 1609 Quarto. Includes also artwork, love poetry, and Valentine's Day poems.

• The Sonnet

  http://www.writing.upenn.edu/~afilreis/88/sonnet.html
  A brief description and definition of the sonnet form(s).

• The Sonnets to Orpheus

  http://www.sonnetstoorpheus.com/rainer_maria_rilke.html
  55 sonnets by Rainer Maria Rilke translated by Robert Temple..

• Toru Dutt: Sonnet

  http://public.wsu.edu/~brians/world_civ/worldcivreader/world_civ_reader_2/dutt.html
  Written in 1876 by an Indian woman raised in France. From Volume 2 of an anthology entitled, "Reading About the World."

• Writing a Sonnet - For Dummies

  http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/writing-a-sonnet.html
  Instructions on how to write a Shakespearean sonnet with an analysis of the form and content of Shakespeare's Sonnet 18.

 

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