Sonnet 18

1. A poem’s meter is its rhythmic structure. You can analyze the meter of lines of poetry by considering both the number of syllables and the pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables. “Sonnet 18” is written in a meter called iambic pentameter. There are five two-syllable sections (each called an iamb) per line for a total of ten syllables in each line.

Briefly investigate online more about iambic pentameter. On which syllables in a ten-syllable line of iambic pentameter should the stress fall? What rhythmic pattern does this create in an oral reading of the line?

Next, with a printed copy of “Sonnet 18” in hand, read each line aloud and try to hear which syllables receive natural emphasis (or “stress”) as you say them. Mark the stressed or emphasized syllables with “/” and the unstressed syllables with “x.” This practice is referred to as “scansion.”

To help you get started, here is how you would scan the first line of the poem:

    x /   x     /    x      /  x   /      x      /

Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?

Finally, write three two-line couplets in iambic pentameter, the meter Shakespeare often used in his sonnets and plays. The couplets may be related, creating a full six-line poem, or they may be separate and unrelated.