A sonnet is a 14-line poem in iambic pentameter with a thematic turn. There are different styles, including Petrarchan, Shakespearean, and Spenserian. Sonnets can be part of a sequence and have various rhyme schemes. The volta is the conclusion of the poem.
A sonnet is a fourteen-line poem in iambic pentameter with a vault, or thematic turn. The specific structure of a sonnet varies according to its style, which may include Petrarchan, Shakespearean, or Spenserian, among others. Many sonnets are part of a sequence of sonnets, or series of sonnets on the same theme.
Iambic pentameter is a five-foot-per-line rhythm. Each foot has an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable, for a total of ten syllables per line. While the basic structure of a sonnet is always iambic pentameter, most poets vary the meter slightly to add interest and emphasize certain words.
The vault, or turn, is the conclusion of the poem. Sonnets draw the reader in at the outset with a question, problem, or simple observation to consider. Once he can answer the question, solve the problem or present a new idea. Sometimes, the time in a sonnet is marked with a dash or the word “again”.
Petrarch’s sonnets, sometimes called Italian sonnets, are modeled on the sonnets of Francesco Petrarca, a 14th-century Italian humanist. This type of sonnet consists of an octave and a sextet, typically with a rhyme scheme of ABBAABBA CDECDE. Generally the volta in a Petrarchan sonnet occurs in the first line of the sextet, when the rhyme changes.
Shakespearean sonnets are named after the late 16th-century English poet and playwright William Shakespeare. Also known as Elizabethan sonnets, they are composed of three quatrains and a couplet, traditionally with a rhyme scheme of ABAB CDCD EFEF GG. A quatrain contains four lines of poetry, usually with alternating rhymes. A couplet, on the other hand, contains two lines of equal length that both end in words that rhyme. While the volta can occur anywhere in a Shakespearean sonnet, it is typically at the beginning of the last couplet.
Some sonnets are neither Petrarchian nor Shakespearean. The sixteenth-century poet Edmund Spenser wrote sonnets with a rhyme scheme of ABAB BCBC CDCD EE, now called the Spenser sonnet in his honor. The structure of a sonnet may rely on other rhyme schemes or even blank verse, as in the poems of John Milton and Robert Lowell.
Placement in a sonnet sequence makes the structure of a sonnet larger than the sonnet itself. Any group of sonnets with a theme, such as Petrarch’s Il Canzoniere, is known as a sonnet sequence. A corona is a specific sequence of sonnets where the last line of one sonnet is the first line of the next and the last line of the last poem is the first line of the first poem. Even more complicated is the redoublé sonnet, which contains fourteen sonnets in the form of a crown, and a fifteenth sonnet composed simply of the shared lines of the crown.
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