modern sonnets
A one-week, self-led online creative writing course exploring the history of the sonnet poetry form. Learn what the rules are and how to break them.
- from The Making of a Sonnet: A Formal Introduction by Edward Hirsch and Eavan Boland
why is a poetry form from the 13th century stilL popular in 2020?
Sonnets, or “little songs,” were born out of a desire to wrestle with opposing viewpoints and conflicting feelings. It’s hard to hold contradicting ideas in our heads. It’s stressful to absorb the chaos of the world without an outlet. Writing poetry— or more specifically writing a sonnet— is one way of processing the many contradictions and confusions that make up human experience. The sonnet is one of the oldest, most effective forms of exploring amorphous, entwined concepts like life and death, sickness and health, love and marriage, time and energy, light and darkness… you get the idea.
Whether you’re an experienced poet or completely new to poetry, the sonnet can become a useful vehicle for processing the world’s complexity— especially when we’re spending so much time alone in quarantine. This one-week, generative writing class will explore both ancient and modern sonnets, providing lessons, exercises, and writing assignments focused on the useful, forever-popular fourteen-line form.
NOTE: This writing course is self-led and entirely online. You move through the lessons at your own pace. Explore one class each day for five days, or allow more time for each lesson to sink in as you work your way through the course. You’ll retain access to online class materials for up to six months after your enrollment date.
5 classes = $120
To enroll in Modern Sonnets, send $120 for the 5-day course to Anna Elise Anderson via the Paypal link above.
Please include your desired starting date and email address where you’d like your classes sent in the comments section of the payment.
If you’re giving the course as a gift, please include your gift message, the recipient’s email address, and the desired class start date in the comments along with payment.
What’s in this class?
On the first day of class, we'll study classic examples of the two most common sonnet forms in the English language: Shakespearean and Petrarchan. We'll explore their history and the formal rules that make them unique. Each subsequent day, we'll dive deeper into one specific aspect or "rule" of the sonnet form, discussing how that rule has changed over time, how various sonnet-writers have broken or rewritten that rule, and how we can enhance our own poetry by understanding, following, tweaking, or breaking that rule in new ways.
Each class combines written lecture (broken down into bite-sized chunks via slides), example sonnets from a diverse range of poets and time periods, discussion questions, outside reading on the subject, and a formal sonnet-writing assignment. Starting with classic Elizabethan and Italian sonnets, we’ll slowly work our way to the most current sonnets written and published in 2021.
CONTENT BREAKDOWN:
Day One: We’ll learn the basic rules and origin history of the English sonnet (made famous by Shakespeare) and the Italian sonnet (made famous by Petrarch).
Day Two: We’ll explore how poetic meter works, learn to count syllabic stresses within lines, and consider how rhythm affects and enhances a sonnet’s meaning.
Day Three: We’ll look at one of the most distinctive aspects of sonnets across history: the volta, or twist in the middle of the poem. We’ll also look at the emergence of the couplet as a kind of poetic punchline.
Day Four: We’ll discuss how the length of a line, the places where lines break, and the shaping of stanzas have evolved over centuries, and consider how a poet’s decisions about shape affect the poem’s interpretation.
Day Five: What makes a subject sonnet-worthy? In this final class, we’ll look at the evolution of major themes and subjects chosen for sonnets over the years.
HOW THE CLASS WORKS:
Enroll in Modern Sonnets via the “Sign Me Up” Paypal link below. The cost is $120 for all five classes, or $35 for each class.
Please include the following information in the comment section of your Paypal payment:
The email address where you’d like the classes sent
The desired start date for your first class.
If you’re paying for a single class, please specify which class you’re purchasing.
I’ll send one class per day (for five consecutive days) to the email address provided, beginning on the requested start date. Emails will come directly from Anna.Elise.Anderson@gmail.com.
Each email contains an introduction from me, some background information for the daily lesson, and a private link to the multimedia Prezi slideshow lesson.
Please reach out if you have any questions at all! I’m available to problem-solve and assist as needed.