1. The Sonnet

2. 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

3. 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”.

4. 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

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