Sonnet Poems
Sonnet Examples
A sonnet is a poem that has 14 lines and follows a specific rhyme scheme. It comes from the Italian word that means “little song.” There are various types of sonnets, and each one is formatted a little differently, following various rhyme schemes. The three main types are the Italian (or Petrarchan) sonnet, the English (or Shakespearean) sonnet, and the Spenserian sonnet. They are named after the poets who made them famous. These forms have been around since the sixteenth century.
11 Different Types of Sonnets
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1. How Do I Love Thee?
How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of being and ideal grace.
I love thee to the level of every day's
Most quiet need, by sun and candlelight.
I love thee freely, as men strive for right;
I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise.
I love with a passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints, I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life! and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.Featured Shared StoryOn August 25, 2017, the love of my life and I had been chatting while he shaved. I walked away, and I was gone 12 minutes. Sometime in those stupid 12 minutes he dropped to his knees and died...
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2. Acquainted With The Night
I have been one acquainted with the night.
I have walked out in rain—and back in rain.
I have outwalked the furthest city light.
I have looked down the saddest city lane.
I have passed by the watchman on his beat
And dropped my eyes, unwilling to explain.
I have stood still and stopped the sound of feet
When far away an interrupted cry
Came over houses from another street,
But not to call me back or say good-bye;
And further still at an unearthly height,
One luminary clock against the sky
Proclaimed the time was neither wrong nor right.
I have been one acquainted with the nightFeatured Shared StoryEach word of the poem is uttering its deep pain in the darkness of night. Highly weighted poem like any other poem of him. Only the one who has gone through this sea of sorrow can understand...
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3. I Wish I Could Remember That First Day
I wish I could remember that first day,
First hour, first moment of your meeting me,
If bright or dim the season, it might be
Summer or winter for aught I can say;
So unrecorded did it slip away,
So blind was I to see and to foresee,
So dull to mark the budding of my tree
That would not blossom yet for many a May.
If only I could recollect it, such
A day of days! I let it come and go
As traceless as a thaw of bygone snow;
It seem'd to mean so little, meant so much;
If only now I could recall that touch,
First touch of hand in hand--Did one but know! -
4. In The Shadow Of Your Warm Love
In the shadow of your warm love
I feel so safe and secure,
And your soft, caring hands
Urge me on to bravely endure.
Your smiles soothe and ease the pain
Of another dark and lonely day;
The rainbow appears amid the rain,
My sorrow as quickly melts away.
A reassuring glow within your eyes
Tells me that you understand
The complicated ways of my sighs
Born of thoughts truly grand.
I continue to look upon your face
And gain a calm heart, my sweet solace. -
5. Stay Or Go?
The days go by, then a month, then a year,
and still through the days I see not a change.
No matter what happens, you still aren't here,
and how you just disappeared is what's strange.
No explanation, no warning, just gone.
I wish I had just some of your courage
to go leave one rainy morning at dawn,
to leave one day without any message.
How I long for somewhere to be renewed
or to just disappear, just not to be,
not to see, not to feel, not to hear you,
the ghost that you are, which I long to be.
But as many days that I want to go,
there are more that I want to stay and know.Featured Shared StoryI love this poem, and like you, I had to grow up at a young age. A sick parent, being bullied and just life in general. To me this poem expresses the inner struggles with myself; knowing that...
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6. When I Have Fears
When I have fears that I may cease to be
Before my pen has gleaned my teeming brain,
Before high-pilèd books, in charactery,
Hold like rich garners the full ripened grain;
When I behold, upon the night’s starred face,
Huge cloudy symbols of a high romance,
And think that I may never live to trace
Their shadows with the magic hand of chance;
And when I feel, fair creature of an hour,
That I shall never look upon thee more,
Never have relish in the faery power
Of unreflecting love—then on the shore
Of the wide world I stand alone, and think
Till love and fame to nothingness do sink.Featured Shared StoryMy brief thoughts on what I believe makes this poem a Classic. We all want to make and leave a mark in life. We all have anxiety. I want to fear not life or death but take the chance called...
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7. Candy Corn
Against the black void, looms the lunar sphere.
Hungry ghosts haunt, satisfied by fright.
Oh my! The children's faces blanch in fear.
And thus the small summit embodies white.
Dwindle do the autumn leaves to the ground.
From the fire, the cold meets its warm demise.
Halloween's favorite gourd, carved and round
And thus the middle is where orange lies.
Farms and tractor-pulled rides, hay is handy.
The black cat's eerie eyes gleam from its face.
The vegetable tastes not like the candy.
And thus concludes yellow to form the base.
White, orange, and yellow make something sweet.
Enjoy some candy corn, Halloween's treat! -
8. My Mistress' Eyes Are Nothing Like The Sun
My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun;
Coral is far more red than her lips' red;
If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;
If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.
I have seen roses damasked, red and white,
But no such roses see I in her cheeks;
And in some perfumes is there more delight
Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.
I love to hear her speak, yet well I know
That music hath a far more pleasing sound;
I grant I never saw a goddess go;
My mistress when she walks treads on the ground.
And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare
As any she belied with false compare.Featured Shared StoryHow absolutely lovely! The way the poem 'shows' more than tells is magnificent; this is an art unto itself!
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9. Autumn Storm By Firelight
A flash of lightning streaks across the sky.
We huddle close beneath the trembling eaves
As thunder roars a nightmare lullaby
And strips the trees outside of summer leaves.
The fire is warm. Its light is warmer still.
A gentle beacon holding back the dark.
Yet, in the light of day, we know we will
Deny the fearful pounding of our hearts.
The ancient wonder once again is near.
The fury of the storm awakes our past.
When gods and nature both were to be feared
And spells of warding were by fire cast.
An autumn storm returns us to that place
When nature's glory awed the human race.Featured Shared StoryHi! English teacher here... I have it included in class lessons! I love the imagery of the poem, and it's a sonnet my students can understand!
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10. There's No Obscurity
As I gaze into his liquid gold eyes,
Poetry radiates from his warm soul
His lips brush mine and I soar through the skies
Passion seizes me; I loose my control
An amalgam of thoughts pierce through my mind
There is love, trust, yet I feel petrified
I know destiny; our fate's intertwined
But what if he's a dream, one I'm denied?
A thousand years I could spend with those suns
Amid his presence I've conquered all realms
I've witnessed beauty that forever stuns
And have basked beneath his forest of elms
Then and there, I grasp truth with clarity
He's in my arms; there's no obscurity -
11. Halloween Sonnet
When leaves start turning orange and golden-brown,
Kids start to dress in costumes so dandy.
For one day a year, all throughout the town
It's time for kids to amass some candy.
Every fun boy and girl shall don the mask,
and with happiness, shall knock on the door.
They all know what question they are to ask
Trick or Treat? I want candy! Give me more!
Up in the sky, with the orange moon so full,
A witch is joined by her fuzzy black cats.
A scarecrow is leaning against a pole.
The silence is broken by shrieking bats.
Halloween is not always full of fright,
for anyone can be a kid that night.
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