A sonnet is a fourteen-line poem in meter (typically iambic pentameter) with a prescribed rhyme scheme and a structural volta. It is one of the most durable fixed forms in the Western poetic tradition, originating in thirteenth-century Sicily and refined by Petrarch, Shakespeare, Milton, and many others.
The two major forms are:
- Petrarchan (Italian) sonnet: an octave (eight lines, rhyming ABBAABBA) followed by a sestet (six lines, typically CDECDE or CDCDCD). The volta falls between the octave and the sestet — the octave poses a problem, question, or situation, and the sestet responds.
- Shakespearean (English) sonnet: three quatrains and a final couplet (ABAB CDCD EFEF GG). The volta often arrives at the couplet, which delivers an epigrammatic turn or resolution.
The sonnet’s constraint is its power. Fourteen lines is short enough to demand compression but long enough to develop an idea. The fixed structure forces the poet to think architecturally — to build toward a turn, to let form and content push against each other.
Related terms
- volta — the turn that defines the sonnet’s internal structure
- meter — typically iambic pentameter in English sonnets
- rhyme — the scheme that differentiates Petrarchan from Shakespearean forms
- couplet — the closing pair of lines in the Shakespearean sonnet
- stanza — the structural divisions within the sonnet