Notes on Sonnet Form

Sonnet:

A fourteen-line poem in iambic pentameter that follows a strict rhyme scheme.

Iambic Pentameter:

pentameter: five feet
(foot: one stressed syllable plus one or more unstressed syllables in a repeating pattern)

iambic: an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable

Sample Iambic Words:

Sample Iambic Pentameter Lines:

Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? (William Shakespeare, Sonnet 18)

When I consider how my light is spent (John Milton)

Rhyme Schemes: Italian & English

Italian Sonnet

• octave: 8 lines with 2 rhyme sounds {A/B}
• turn (or volta)
• sestet: 6 lines with 2 (or 3) new rhyme sounds {c/d/e}
• octave usually follows 1 of 2 set patterns: abbaabba or abababab
• sestet displays a wide variety of patterns. cdecde, cdcdcd, cddcee, and so on.

Dear, cherish this and with it my soul’s will,	A
Nor for it ran away do it abuse.	B
Alas, it left poor me your breast to choose	B
As the blest shrine where it would harbor still.	A
Then favor show and not unkindly kill	A
The heart which fled to you, but do excuse	B
That which for better did the worse refuse,	B
And pleased I’ll be, though heartless my life spill.	A
But if you will be kind and just indeed,	c
Send me your heart, which in mine’s place shall feed	c
On faithful love to your devotion bound.	d
There shall it see the sacrifices made	e
Of pure and spotless love, which shall not fade	e
While soul and body are together found.	d

English Sonnet

• three quatrains: 4 lines with 2 rhyme sounds
• closing couplet: a pair of rhyming lines
• abab cdcd efef gg

Dear, why should you command me to my rest	A
When now the night doth summon all to sleep?	B
Methinks this time becometh lovers best;	A
Night was ordained together friends to keep.	B
How happy are all other living things	C
Which, though the day disjoin by several flight,	D
The quiet evening yet together brings,	C
And each returns unto his love at night.	D
O thou, that art so courteous else to all,	E
Why shouldst thou, Night, abuse me only thus,	F
That every creature to his kind doth call	E
And yet ’tis thou dost only sever us.	F
Well could I wish it would be ever day	g
If when night comes you bid me go away.	g

Download: Notes on Sonnet Form