Organization - Style

Setting The Stage
Poet Ron Padgett states, “if you want to write in the sonnet form, it’s good to understand the concept of ‘therefore’,” because in the last lines of a sonnet, the poet is saying, “Therefore, this is the way I feel.”

In Shakespeare’s time, at the turn of the seventeenth century, the sonnet’s form was strict, and its purpose was usually to flatter or praise someone: lovers, but also friends or people in positions of power.


Response Stance
Students use inferencing to determine what Shakespeare is saying in his poem of praise.

Invite students to read more of Shakespeare’s sonnets or traditional sonnets by other poets to understand the structure.

Explore ReadWriteThink’s Interactive Sonnet Characteristics Chart. Using this online tool, students enter information about sonnets they are analyzing, including the number of lines and stanzas, lines per stanza, rhyme scheme, meter, and other observations.