Writing Class Sonnets: Here & There

One activity that both my colleague, Matt Reilly, and I do when teaching our sophomores at NHS about sonnets, is to write "class sonnets". Several years ago Matt introduced this idea to me and since then both of us guide our full, individual classes into creating class sonnets - usually a parody of a Shakespeare sonnet. I have started keeping a record of these sonnets and a very funny collection is starting to take shape.

This week, during a lesson on sonnets with my Year 8 students at Fairfield I decided to try this same activity. At first, I divided the class into small groups of five, mixed boy and girl groups, and directed them to try to create their own. They were instructed to do the best they could to keep to the iambic pentameter rhythm of a sonnet, but more importantly they should follow the rhyme scheme. I opted for the small group, rather than the full class group, as emphasis is placed on cooperative learning in small groups of mixed genders and abilities. This task, however, proved too difficult for this set up, coupled with the fact that these students are three years younger than the students at home - so I returned to the first philosophy of the large, whole class group.

I decided to give them the first line - a similar one to that used by one group of students from home. I wanted to see if any similarities would arise from the two groups. From there the ideas flew around the room, and as we repeated the lines out loud we eventually were able to edit the sonnet to a pretty close rendition of iambic pentameter and a correct English sonnet rhyme scheme - complete with rhyming couplet. As with any piece of writing, editing can always improve it, but neither are bad for a first try in a short lesson. Below you will read a Year 8 Monnow original sonnet, and a sonnet written by a group of 2008 Year 10 students at NHS, who happen to be Seniors this year- some of them may recognize their work.

Fairfield Year 8 Monnow 2009

Shall I compare thee to a pair of smelly trainers*?
Thou art more stinky and more horrible.
Your rough worn soles do pierce large containers.
Oh, get far from me, thou art so intol'r'ble.
Sometimes too sweaty; sprinting far from you.
Oft your odors worship in the temple of my nose.
If to heaven I with you go, I'd smell eternal poo.
You ne'er will e'er smell of a red, red, rose.
Although thy eternal stench shall not fade
Ne'er the rubbish bin shall you go in.
Etern'lly thankful, I am, you were made.
To throw you away would sure be a sin.
So long as you don't choke my healthy lung
I shan't wheeze or sneeze, nor toss you in the dung.

Period 5 2008 Sophomores

Shall I compare you to a pair of gym socks?
Thou art more lovely and more putrid.
Rough feet are calloused, flaked and hard as rocks
And season's scent is much too hard to rid.
Somtimes too much a toe doth show from holes
And oft the nails do seem untrimm'd,
And every hair and mole do cover o'er the soles;
In their own moist sweat the soles doth swim'd.
But thy eternal scent shall never fade,
Nor lose possession of thy fungi stump,
Nor shall detergent's scent obeyed
As thy forever do remain amid the gym bag dump.
So long as sports are played and socks are worn
So long live gym socks; sweaty, disgusting and torn.


*smelly trainers = smelly sneakers!