1. A fixed poetic form SONNET

2.  fixed: 14 lines, Iambic Pentameter  common varieties:  Petrarchan (Italian), oldest variety Rhyme scheme: abbaabba cdecde 1 octet + 1 sestet  Spenserian (English) Rhyme scheme: abab bcbc cdcd ee 3 quatrains + 1 couplet  Shakespearean (English), most popular variety Rhyme scheme: abab cdcd efef gg 3 quatrains + 1 couplet SONNET FORM

3.  Meter is the pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in a poem  Foot – 1 unit of meter  Iamb – unstressed, stressed [u/]  Trochee – stressed, unstressed [/u]  Pentameter – (penta=5) 5 units(feet) of stress patterns  Iambic Pentameter – 5 units of iambs in 1 line of poetry [u/][u/][u/][u/][u/] METER

4.  Stanza – section of lines (like a poetry paragraph)  Octet – 8 line stanza  Sestet – 6 line stanza  Quatrain – 4 line stanza  Tercet – 3 line stanza  Couplet – 2 line stanza  Shakespearean Sonnets are comprised of 3 consecutive quatrains that lead like stepping stones to the couplet  The couplet acts as the “turn of thought” in the English Sonnet, where it summarizes or concludes the poem  In the Petrarchan Sonnet, which is 1 octet followed by 1 sestet, the “turn” (volta, Italian word for “turn of thought”) occurs at line 9, or the beginning of the sestet TERMS