
You can read more about different kinds of rhymes here. This is an example of what is called off-rhyme, or slant-rhyme.

For example, "art" and "convert" have the same final sound, but the vowel sounds ("a" in art and "e" in convert) are different. You may notice that some of the rhymes are not exact. Thy end is truth's and beauty's doom and date. Or else of thee this I prognosticate, (g)

If from thy self, to store thou wouldst convert: (f) (d)īut from thine eyes my knowledge I derive, (e)Īnd constant stars in them I read such art (f)Īs truth and beauty shall together thrive (e) Or say with princes if it shall go well (c)īy oft predict that I in heaven find. Pointing to each his thunder, rain and wind, (d)

Nor can I fortune to brief minutes tell (c) Of plagues, of dearths, or seasons' quality,(b) Not from the stars do I my judgement pluck, (a)īut not to tell of good, or evil luck, (a) Here's an example of a sonnet by Shakespeare written in this form. The final two lines of the poem (gg) rhyme with each other. The second line (b) rhymes with the fourth line (also called "b"). So in a Shakespearian sonnet, the first line (a) rhymes with the third line (also called "a"). An "a" line rhymes with another "a" line, a "d" line rhymes with another "d" line, etc. When a rhyme scheme is written in this way, each of the letters stands for one line. The rhyme scheme looks like this: abab cdcd efef gg. The Shakespearian sonnet has fourteen lines in iambic pentameter that are divided into three groups of four lines and one group of two lines. There are different kinds of sonnets, but I'm going to talk about the Shakespearian sonnet, also called the English sonnet. Hear it? bah-BAH bah-BAH bah-BAH bah-BAH bah-BAH.

How to Write a Sonnet This page talks about how to write a sonnet and offers some poem starters for writing your own.
