The Facebook Sonnet

The poem, as the title states, is written in sonnet form and thus has 14 lines. The meter differs from the traditional Shakespearean or English sonnet: Each line is a tetrameter rather than a pentameter. A pentameter comprises five feet, whereas a tetrameter has only four feet. In other words, the lines in “The Facebook Sonnet” are shorter than those in the traditional sonnet. Traditional sonnets are written in iambic pentameter. An iamb is a poetic foot consisting of a stressed syllable followed by an unstressed syllable. Alexie’s sonnet, however, does not strictly follow an iambic rhythm, although a regular iambic tetrameter does appear in Line 12: “Let church.com become our church” (Line 12) (to observe the correct rhythm, “church.com” [Line 12] is pronounced “church dot-com”). For the most part, however, the meter is varied. Line 1 begins with a trochee rather than an iamb. A trochee is a foot in which a stressed syllable is followed by an unstressed syllable, so “Welcome” (Line 1). Line 8 also begins with a trochee: “Childhood” (Line 8).

The rhyme scheme is quite traditional.