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A Sonnet is a Poem that has 14 lines and follows a specific rhyme scheme. The three main types are the Italian (or Petrarchan) sonnet, the English (or Shakespearean) sonnet, and the Spenserian sonnet.
Sonnets often explore love, beauty, time, and mortality themes, offering a structured and compact canvas for poets to express their emotions and reflections. The constrained form of the sonnet challenges poets to craft precise and lyrical verse, resulting in timeless and evocative poems. PDF Guide.
Here’s a quick and simple definition: A sonnet is a type of fourteen-line poem. Traditionally, the fourteen lines of a sonnet consist of an octave (or two quatrains making up a stanza of 8 lines) and a sestet (a stanza of six lines). Sonnets generally use a meter of iambic pentameter, and follow a set rhyme scheme.
We’ve chosen the top 10 sonnets of all time. For each poem, we’re going to give you background info on each sonnet, identify the type of each sonnet example, and briefly analyze the poem.
Sonnet. A 14-line poem with a variable rhyme scheme originating in Italy and brought to England by Sir Thomas Wyatt and Henry Howard, earl of Surrey in the 16th century. Literally a “little song,” the sonnet traditionally reflects upon a single sentiment, with a clarification or “turn” of thought in its concluding lines.
Shakespeare published 154 sonnets, and although they are all poems of the highest quality, there are some that have entered deeply into the consciousness of our culture to become the most famous Shakespeare sonnets.
A sonnet is a poem generally structured in the form of 14 lines, usually iambic pentameter, that expresses a thought or idea and utilizes an established rhyme scheme. As a poetic form, the sonnet was developed by an early thirteenth-century Italian poet, Giacomo da Lentini.
