A sonnet is a lyric poem consisting of a single stanza of 14 iambic pentameter lines linked by an intricate rhyme scheme. There are two major patterns of rhyme in sonnets written in the English language:
1) The Italian or Petrarchan sonnet falls into two main parts: an octave (eight lines) rhyming abbaabba followed by a sestet (six lines) rhyming cdecde or some variant, such as cdccdc. 2) The Shakespearean sonnet has three quatrains and a concluding couplet rhyming abab cdcd efef gg. Many poets arranged their poems into sonnet sequences, or sonnet cycles, in which a series of sonnets are linked together by exploring the varied aspects of a relationship between lovers, or else by indicating a development in the relationship that constitutes a kind of implicit plot. |
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