I challenge all to a sonnet duel:

… iambics drawn, pentameters and couplets at the ready, set, go!

A sonnet is 14 lines of words and punctuation on a page; adding up to approx 140 syllables. And with feminine endings that’s 154. Now there’s a coincidence: exactly the number of sonnets in the series!

The argument of a sonnet is developed in three quatrains of 4 lines and concluded in a final couplet of 2 lines.

The first quatrain poses a question, makes a statement, or unloads an emotional issue. The first counter-argument follows quickly, and the battle to win the argument or resolve the conflict is on!

The horns of dilemma are locked in the second quatrain and the outcome seems insurmountable. Then the poet resolves the whole with a jump: or technically and Italianate-ly, a Volta into the third quatrain.

Finally the poet comments on the resolved/unresolved argument in the couplet or last two lines.

Shakespeare is brilliant at spinning argument. His favourite tool is antithesis or juxtaposition, which he uses on all semantic levels. This facility points to a natural wit. Wit is a characteristic of the spoken word.

Verbal dexterity is required to enhance pronunciation. Try it for yourself. Slide through a sonnet and surf the sounds from consonant to vowel through consonant clusters to diphthong and back again. The author’s pen scratches out a rhythm etching itself on the ear of the listening reader.

Words don’t just signify, they move and drive inner and outer experience and live through you. It used to be a man was as good as his word. This author is your Shakespeare. But who was he? Puhh! Better not to ask. The can of worms will burst open and wriggle in your mind for years!