Puppy Love

I can’t think of a better day than Valentine’s Day to do a sonnet. I recently found a sonnet that I wrote while studying Shakespeare (some years ago). In fact, that class was my all time favorite. It was taught by an incredible, enthusiastic and inspirational professor, Dr. Gordon Lell. Sadly, he passed away last year, but will live on through the many students he taught. His passion for Shakespeare was contagious.

First, maybe you’d like to read a sonnet or two. Click here

I had to memorize this one for my class. Try it!

Sonnet 116

by William Shakespeare

Let me not to the marriage of true minds

Admit impediments. Love is not love

Which alters when it alteration finds,

Or bends with the remover to remove.

O, no, it is an ever-fixed mark

That looks on tempests and is never shaken;

It is the star to every wandering bark,

Whose worth’s unknown, although his height be taken.

Love’s not Time’s fool, though rosy lips and cheeks

Within his bending sickle’s compass come;

Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,

But bears it out even to the edge of doom.

If this be error and upon me proved,

I never write, nor no man ever loved.

Sonnets may seem a bit confusing, but there is a pattern. They are most often about love, but one could write one about any topic. There is a method to the madness, so try it! I’d love to read your sonnet.

Happy Valentine’s Day!