The Sonnet in Poetry: Teaching Sonnet Analysis

My Sonnet in Poetry Mini Unit is one of my favorite poetry units of all time. It is so quick and yet, at the end, kids have a really clear sense of what a sonnet is and why it matters.

There was a time when sonnets appeared on the AP® Literature exam three out of five years. And while that trend has not continued, it was proof to me that Thomas C. Foster is correct when he says that the sonnet is the only type of closed form poetry that students really need to know. (He wrote about it in the chapter called “It it’s Square, It’s a Sonnet,” in the original edition of How to Read Literature Like a Professor, which is now included in How to Read Poetry Like a Professor.)

And the best part of a sonnet unit? You can accomplish everything you need to for the AP® Literature Poetry Unit 1 in about 5 class days. Since, it important for students to understand the concept of open and closed form poetry. And the easiest way to do this is by giving them lots of examples of the same closed form. And the sonnet is perfect for this.

The Sonnet in Poetry: Teaching Poetry Analysis in High School English Classes. Ideas on how to teach the sonnet form and sonnet analysis.

What is the Sonnet in Poetry?

A sonnet is a 14 line poem written in iambic pentameter that has a regular rhyme scheme. As a result, I tell my students that if they see a 14 line poem with 10 beats per line and a regular rhyme scheme they can be pretty sure that it’s a sonnet. We do go into more specifics about those rhyme schemes and the difference between a Shakespearean sonnet and a Petrarchan sonnet, but I don’t expect them to memorize that because they will never expect them to know that on the AP® Lit test. In fact, with recent revisions to the test, I don’t even think they would ask a multiple choice question when the answer would be sonnet.

How to Teach the Sonnet in Poetry

In some way, the students need to get information about the basic form. I do this in a number of ways depending on time, interest and the current batch of students.

Read Sonnets Like a Professor

The first way is by having them read “If it’s Square, it’s a Sonnet” from the original edition of How to Read Literature Like a Professor or the current edition of How to Read Poetry Like a Professor. This chapter gives a great overview of why the sonnet is important, the magic of it and really dives deep into the concepts of the octave and the sestet. However, students sometimes would rather have a more direct approach.

To get that more direct approach, I give them an accompanying note taking sheet to ensure that get all the important information from the chapter. Because Foster is a little less direct in his approach to describing the sonnet than they are used to taking notes from text books, This sometimes frustrates students. However, it’s actually probably a good skill to develop—taking notes from a text where it is not laid out in the concrete sequential method of a text book.

You could do something similar with the poets.org page on sonnets. It provides a slightly more direct outline of what a sonnet is and the basics structures. Therefore, it provides a familiar structure from which to take notes.

Discover the Sonnet Form

Another way to introduce the concept would be to give them 4-5 sonnets and ask them to explore them for commonalities. Have them really hone in on the structure: count the lines, clap the beats per line, mark the rhyme scheme, note the syntax, etc. Then develop a definition together.

Direct Approach to Understanding the Sonnet

The final way is to simply lecture. You can use that same sonnet graphic organizer that I use with the Professor chapter and directly give them the information about what a sonnet is. If I go this route, I not only give them the basics, but then I model going through both a Shakespearean sonnet and a Petrarchan sonnet. (All of this can be found in my Sonnet Notes of Form Product.)

Sonnet Analysis Activity

So the next question is what to do with the sonnet once students have a familiarity with what it is. This is a great time to do collaborative annotations with your students. Because sonnets are short and compact, they really lend themselves to this kind of activity. It is easy to enlarge them for any variety of collaborative annotations.

This is how I like to do it. I select a number of sonnets and assign one poem to a pair of students. They dive deep into a close reading for sonnet analysis with very specific instructions to paraphrase, mark the rhyme scheme, note the shifts and syntax and identify the type of sonnet it is. Then they consider how the form impacts the meaning of the poem as a whole. Once they have completed this as a draft, they transfer the information to an enlarged version of the poem.

We use those annotated enlarged versions of the sonnets for a gallery walk or presentations.

For a ready to use version of the activity, check out this Sonnet Collaborative Annotation Project.

Then we end the unit with sonnet analysis writing. This could be form of a previous AP® Literature Poetry Prompt or using this general poetry prompt for any sonnet.

Grab the Whole Sonnet in Poetry Mini Unit here.

Your Next Sonnet Unit

When you are planning your next sonnet unit, I hope that you will consider including a collaborative annotation activity. It is a great way to get students diving deep into the poem and working together. Oh and don’t forget to periodically reinforce the sonnet. I do this by sprinkling in some sonnets in our Poem of the Week bell ringers.