Want to write a sonnet like Shakespeare? Here’s your chance! This year in National Poetry month and Shakespeare’s birthday (4/23) month, we invite you to write and submit an original sonnet. Three winning sonnets will be read by local actors at the grand opening of John L. Carter Park this summer and their authors will get free tickets to our 2024 production!

What is a sonnet?

A sonnet is a poem of 14 lines that reflects upon a single issue or idea. Shakespearean sonnets use iambic pentameter and an ABAB CDCD EFEF GG rhyme scheme.

Iambic pentameter is a line of verse composed of ten syllables arranged in five metrical feet (iambs), each of which consists of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable. 

The 14 lines of the sonnet consist of four divisions, known as ‘quatrains’. The first three of the four sonnet divisions/quatrains have the same rhyme scheme, whilst the fourth and last division/quatrain has a different rhyme scheme.

here’s an overview of How to Write A Sonnet

Ready to start writing? Send up to three sonnet submissions to [email protected] by April 30th.