I need examples of a sonnet!
http://www.sonnets.org/
http://nfs.sparknotes.com/sonnets/
Shakespeare's sonnets are here, listed by number.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonnet
Explanations and examples of various sonnet types are here.
Sure! A sonnet is a 14-line poem with a specific rhyme scheme and meter. There are two main types of sonnets: the Italian sonnet (or Petrarchan sonnet) and the English sonnet (or Shakespearean sonnet). Let's take a look at examples of each:
1. Italian Sonnet:
An Italian sonnet consists of an octave (eight lines) followed by a sestet (six lines). The rhyme scheme of an Italian sonnet is typically ABBAABBA for the octave, and CDCDCD or CDECDE for the sestet.
Example:
Sonnet 18 by William Shakespeare
Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? (A)
Thou art more lovely and more temperate. (B)
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, (B)
And summer's lease hath all too short a date. (A)
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines, (A)
And often is his gold complexion dimmed; (B)
And every fair from fair sometime declines, (B)
By chance or nature's changing course untrimmed. (A)
...
(Continues with the sestet)
2. English Sonnet:
An English sonnet has three quatrains (four-line stanzas) followed by a final rhymed couplet (two lines). The rhyme scheme of an English sonnet is typically ABABCDCDEFEFGG.
Example:
Sonnet 116 by William Shakespeare
Let me not to the marriage of true minds (A)
Admit impediments. Love is not love (B)
Which alters when it alteration finds, (A)
Or bends with the remover to remove: (B)
O no! it is an ever-fixed mark (A)
That looks on tempests and is never shaken; (B)
It is the star to every wandering bark, (A)
Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken. (B)
...
(Continues with two more quatrains and a final couplet)
These examples should help you understand the structure and rhyme scheme of a sonnet while showcasing the poetic beauty and meaning within them.