ELI5: Sonnets

A sonnet is a special kind of short poem made of exactly fourteen lines that follow a strict pattern of rhyming and rhythm.

Think of a sonnet like a Lego set with very strict building rules. While you can build anything you want with regular Lego bricks, to build a sonnet, you must use exactly fourteen bricks, stacked in a specific order, using special colors that match.

Here are the main rules that make a poem a sonnet:

• Fourteen lines: Every traditional sonnet has exactly fourteen lines, never more and never less.
• Heartbeat rhythm: If you say the lines out loud, they sound like a beating heart: da-DUM, da-DUM, da-DUM, da-DUM, da-DUM. Each line usually has ten beats. In poetry, this bounce is called iambic pentameter.
• Rhyme game: The ends of the lines must rhyme in a specific pattern. For example, line one might rhyme with line three, while line two rhymes with line four.
• The twist: Near the end of the poem, usually around line nine or line twelve, the writer introduces a surprise, a solution to a problem, or a change in mood. This turning point is called the volta, or the "turn."

Imagine writing a secret love letter or a story about your best friend, but you have to turn it into a tiny, fourteen-line musical puzzle. That is what creating a sonnet is all about.