The Joy of Sonnets

The joy of sonnets is that you must say everything in only fourteen lines, or, if you have less to say than fourteen lines, you must fill in more to fit in fourteen lines.
Shakespeare was the master. Read a sonnet of his and it seems perfect, as if his original thought came to him in sonnet form.
This is one of my favorites. Read some more here: http://www.shakespeares-sonnets.com/

CVI

When in the chronicle of wasted time
I see descriptions of the fairest wights,
And beauty making beautiful old rhyme,
In praise of ladies dead and lovely knights,
Then, in the blazon of sweet beauty's best,
Of hand, of foot, of lip, of eye, of brow,
I see their antique pen would have express'd
Even such a beauty as you master now.
So all their praises are but prophecies
Of this our time, all you prefiguring;
And for they looked but with divining eyes,
They had not skill enough your worth to sing:
For we, which now behold these present days,
Have eyes to wonder, but lack tongues to praise.