The structure of a sonnet is of great importance. In consists of fourteen lines. There three quartrains, of four lines each and a couplet, two lines at the end. Counting the number of lines when reciting a sonnet can be of help. Being aware of what kind of poem it is is going to be an effective first step. A good strategy to memorize this particular piece of poetry could be to associate the images of summer and nature with the addressee, the person whom the sonnet was written to. For instance the hot weather in the summer which takes place in the month of May can make the reader remember the words in the sonnet. The rhyme comes to aid as well (day / May, temperate/ date, etc) when trying to remember what words come at the end of each line.
