Say what the sonnet is about and give it real details, and Hemmingway writes fourteen lines in rhyme and metre. Unless you ask for another kind, it is a Shakespearean sonnet in modern words. You read it aloud and mend any line that limps.
The poem is made of the details you give and nothing else. A sonnet is small and strict, so an ordinary memory described exactly does more than a grand theme.
What makes a sonnet work
- Give it a turn. A sonnet sets something up and then changes direction: a question answered, a second thought, what you see now that you did not then. If you know the turn, put it in the third field.
- Ask for modern words. Thee, thou and o'er are costume.
- Read for the beat. Each line should have ten syllables and five beats: da DUM, five times. AI models slip a syllable now and then. Say which line is off and it rewrites that one.
The two main kinds
| Kind | Shape | Rhyme | Where it turns |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shakespearean | Three groups of four lines, then a pair | ABAB CDCD EFEF GG | Usually the last two lines |
| Petrarchan | Eight lines, then six | ABBAABBA, then CDECDE or CDCDCD | Line nine |
An example
Asked for a Shakespearean sonnet in modern words about a father teaching you to drive in an empty car park on a Sunday, with his hand hovering over the handbrake, a voice he never raised and the fact that you drive his car now, turning on how patient he was, an opening along these lines is what to expect:
A Sunday, and the car park ours alone.
His hand above the handbrake hovered, stayed,
and never touched it. In the same low tone
he talked me through each small mistake I made.
Eight more lines follow, and then the closing pair, where the poem turns:
I drive his car these days, and understand
how much of patience was that waiting hand.
Common questions
Is the sonnet generator free?
Yes. Hemmingway has a free trial with no card needed, and this tool opens it with your answers filled in. You sign up once, and the sonnet is written in the chat.
How many lines are in a sonnet?
Fourteen. In a Shakespearean sonnet they fall into three groups of four and a closing pair, and in a Petrarchan sonnet into eight and six.
What is iambic pentameter?
A line of ten syllables in five pairs, each pair an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed one. "I drive his car these days, and understand" is one.
Does a sonnet have to be about love?
No. Love is the famous subject, but a sonnet can be about a parent, a place, a job or an argument with yourself. For a love poem in a freer form there is the love poem generator, and for free verse the poem generator. The guide on how to write a poem covers metre and rhyme by hand.
Will it sound like AI?
It is built not to. Hemmingway-1, the model behind it, came first on sounding like a person in our own blind test, Human-Likeness. Metre can push any writer into odd word order, so where a line sounds twisted, ask for it again in plainer words.