THE SONNET
Compiled from OED Defintion, poetryfoundation.org, and my experience with sonnets
Sonnets or “little songs” are lyrical 14-line poems. They are small but mighty! They’ve been inspiring and stumping
poets since the 13th century.
Like all formal poems, sonnets have a set of rules to follow (though we will talk about following/not following
rules).
The two most common types of sonnets are: Italian/Petrarchan and English/Shakesperean




Both have 14 lines
Both are written in iambic pentameter (5 pairs of unstressed/stressed syllables)
Both have rhyme schemes
Both have a logical or rhetorical structure (an argument).
Now for how they differ:
Italian/Petrarchan:




Is divided into two sections: the octave (8 lines) followed by sestet (6 lines)
The poem lays out an “argument”
o If ….. then …..
o When this ….. then that …..
o Conflict /problem….. Resolution/relief1
The ‘space’ between the octave and the sestet is a volta and marks where the poems turns from the “if” to
the “then” of the argument.
The rhyme scheme:
o Octave: abbaabba
o Sestet: cdecde, cdccdc, or cdedce.
English/Shakesperean
 Is divided into 3 quatrains (4 lines) and a couplet (two lines)
 The “argument” is a bit more like a traditional essay, with 3 pieces of ‘evidence’ or three examples of the
issue in each quatrain and the final solution, thesis, or turn in the couplet.
 The rhyme Scheme is: abab cdcd efef gg.
 or for the Spenserian sonnet, a combination, abab bcbc cdcd ee.)
Why the Sonnet?




Challenges your skill and hones your craft
Teaches musicality
Requires precision and economy of words
Moves you to think outside your normal tropes and language patterns.
On this twofold division of the Italian sonnet Charles Gayley notes: "The octave bears the burden; a doubt, a problem, a
reflection, a query, an historical statement, a cry of indignation or desire, a Vision of the ideal. The sestet eases the load,
resolves the problem or doubt, answers the query, solaces the yearning, realizes the vision."
1