Sonnets
Sonnets
A sonnet is a love poem.
It has 14 lines
It is written in iambic pentameter
and contains a“turn” (volta).
The 2 most popular types of sonnet are the English Sonnet and the Italian Sonnet. The rhyme schemes of these sonnets can be found below.
ENGLISH SONNET
a
b
a
b
c
d
c
d
e
f
e
f
g
g
In an
English Sonnet the turn (volta) takes place after the 12 line.
Sonnet 116 By William Shakespeare
Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments, love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove.
O no, it is an ever fixèd mark
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wand'ring bark,
Whose worth's unknown although his height be taken.
Love's not time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle's compass come,
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom:
If this be error and upon me proved,
I never writ, nor no man ever loved.
ITALIAN SONNET
a
b
b
a
a
b
b
a
cdcdcd
OR
cddcdc
OR
cdecde
OR
cdeced
OR
cdcedc
In an Italian Sonnet the turn (volta) takes place after the 8th line.
London, 1802 BY WILLIAM WORDSWORTH
Milton! thou shouldst be living at this hour:
England hath need of thee: she is a fen
Of stagnant waters: altar, sword, and pen,
Fireside, the heroic wealth of hall and bower,
Have forfeited their ancient English dower
Of inward happiness. We are selfish men;
Oh! raise us up, return to us again;
And give us manners, virtue, freedom, power.
Thy soul was like a Star, and dwelt apart:
Thou hadst a voice whose sound was like the sea:
Pure as the naked heavens, majestic, free,
So didst thou travel on life's common way,
In cheerful godliness; and yet thy heart
The lowliest duties on herself did lay.