How do you read a sonnet?

Question:

How do you read a sonnet?

There is a special way to read a sonnet besides just reading it normaly. Can someone help me?

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:

1. Structurally: Look at stanzaic formation, rhythm, rhyme and number o flines. You will usually run into Shakespearean (Elizabethan), Petrarchan (Italian), or Spenserian sonnets. As for rhytm pattern, it is most usually iambic pentameter (five iambs, i.e. unstressed-stressed groups of twio syllables):
Example: Shall-I-Com-pare-thee-to-a-Sum...

2. Content-wise: Most of the time (Especially with Elizabethan Sonnets), every stanza deals with a specific,m closed topic, to be concluded at the end. For example, a sonnet by Shakespeare will ALWAYS have three quatrains (four-line stanzas), each dealing with a specific, yet interrelated topic, and closes with a rhyming couplet (2-line stanza) which provides a conclusion to the whole theme; this schema is repeated all over his 154 sonnets.

3. Aesthetically: Read open-heartedly! Always axpecting to deal with the most inner nerve-shaking human feelings and topics... ENJOY YOUR READING!