4.08 Poetic Structure and Form

Question

Poem A: Sonnet 55 by William Shakespeare

1. What is the rhyme scheme of this sonnet?
2. What meter is being used in the poem? How do you know?

Answer 1

1. The rhyme scheme is that of a typical Shakespearean sonnet: ABAB CDCD EFEF GG
2. The poem is written in iambic pentameter. There are five feet of unstressed then stressed syllables. For example:

Not mar / ble nor / the guil / ded mon / uments

The stressed syllables are in bold. Unstressed not bold.