Sonnet v.s. Lyrical Poems

Does anyone know how to write sonnets? What's the different between a sonnet and just a plain lyrical poem? Any tips and tricks someone trying to write a sonnet could use?
Do all sonnets have to have a rhyme scheme?

 

A sonnet has a defined form whereas other poems can be free verse. Rhyme is required for a sonnet. They also follow some sort of meter. As for how to write sonnets, you have to first decide what type of sonnet you want to write (English, Petrarchan). There are guidelines for each of the types that you can find online.

 

A sonnet has a very particular structure:
14 lines, each containing 10 syllables (or 5 iambs) in iambic pentameter. Rhyme scheme is traditionally abab cdcd efef gg.

Lyric poetry, on the other hand, covers a huge range of poetic forms, but must rhyme and generally addresses emotional or personal themes. All (traditional) sonnets are Lyric poems, but not all Lyric poems are sonnets.

 

Thanks. So....could Edgar Allan Poe's lyrical poem A Dream Within a Dream be considered a sonnet?

 

No...it has far more than 14 lines and less than 10 syllables per line, and isn't written in iambic pentameter, and the rhyme scheme doesn't conform to any of the forms of sonnet.

 

Is there an example of a lyrical poem that is a sonnet?

 

From what I remember, lyrical poetry is meant to be set to music or even sung. Your best bet would be to search google for "sonnet lyrical poem" or something to that effect.

 

Okay...thank you Thirdwind.

 

fyi, 'lyric/al poetry' refers to short poems that express personal feelings and may or may not be set to music... email me and i'll send you info on the various forms of poetry and the art's terminology...

hugs, m

 

Sonnet by Keats which I did at school:
When I Have Fears That I May Cease To Be

When I have fears that I may cease to be
Before my pen has glean'd my teeming brain,
Before high piled books, in charactry,
Hold like rich garners the full-ripen'd grain;
When I behold, upon the night's starr'd face,
Huge cloudy symbols of a high romance,
And think that I may never live to trace
Their shadows, with the magic hand of chance;
And when I feel, fair creature of an hour,
That I shall never look upon thee more,
Never have relish in the faery power
Of unreflecting love; -- then on the shore
Of the wide world I stand alone, and think
Till Love and Fame to nothingness do sink.

I love it all apart from the 'night's starr'd face'--it always made me think of acne...