A Poem to Shakespeare From Henley Street

William Shakespeare statute and his childhood home in background on right. Picture by mohammad Bader- Henley St , Stratford-upon-Avon Sep, 5,2024

In Stratford-upon-Avon lies the lovely home;

Where Sir William Shakespeare once lived and roamed;

A mysterious child; perhaps sad and dimmed

Dropped out of school and to Anne he wed.

Poet and actor of forty plays it’s said.

He sharpened his pencil and wrote with blood.

To the house of William, I bid farewell.

A day of remembrance of a man who wrote so well.

With curiosity and affection,

I humbly stroll; a site so lovely, dear.

And snap a picture of a home, so clear.

So if you hear me sir William Shakespeare,

Create me a sonnet for all to hear!

Picture of William Shakespeare’s childhood home. Picture by Mohammad Bader.

Background on this poem

On September, 5th a dear friend gave me a birthday gift by taking me to visit Shakespeare’s childhood home in Stratford.-upon- Avon. We also saw a play at the local theatre. While visiting Great Britain, I had set my mind to write a poem a day. That proved to be difficult. After visiting Shakespeare’s home, I was inspired. I decided to research and write a sonnet using Iambic Pentameter.

William Shakespeare perhaps invented this form of poetry. In this poem, I attempted to mimic his style. Then, I learned that a vast majority of poetry and songs are written using this style.

Iambic Pentameter is characterized by having 14 total lines. One line of writing is made of ten syllables and is called feet.

The first syllable is unstressed the second syllable stressed. An example is:

Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?

It will be read as such:

Shall I (2 syllables)

com-pare (2 syllables)

thee to. (2)

a sum (2)

mer’s day. (2)

There is a total of five unstressed and stressed syllables. Thus the name pentameter.