The Sonnet

Sonnet Comes from the Italina word “sonetto” meaning “little song” A sonnet has 14 lines, Iambic pentameter beat pattern (weak/strong) strict rhyming scheme and a specific structure Shakespeare wrote 154 sonnets

Italian (Petrarchan) Fourteen lines of Iambic Pentameter two parts which together form an “argument” Octave (2 quatrains): forms the “proposition” or question. This describes the “problem” Rhyming scheme: ABBA ABBA Followed by a sestet which proposes a “resolution” Rhyming scheme options: CDECDE, CDCCDC or CDCDCD The ninth line is typically the “turn” which signals the move from the “proposition” to the “resolution”.

English (Shakespearean) Fourteen lines Each line uses Iambic Pentameter Unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable, repeated 5 times Rhyming scheme: ABAB CDCD EFEF GG Last 2 lines are a rhyming couplet

Check out the differences and similarities between “Anthem for Doomed Youth” and “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?”