

How sonnet definition looks like?Ī sonnet is a poem made up of 24 lines with each line having 10 syllables and the poem is developed such that it has a fixed pattern of rhymes. On the other hand, the Italian sonnet is made up of eight lines known as an octave that is made up of two quatrains who function is to start the poem in the form of a question then followed by six lines referred to as the sestet whose function is to answer the octave. For the English sonnet, we have three quatrains that must be followed by a rhyming couplet. Depending on the type of the sonnet, the lines are arranged differently. So far the speaker has been criticising his mistress, but the final two lines show that he still thinks she is beautiful.Explanation of How to Write a Sonnet What is a sonnet?Ī sonnet is a poem that usually expresses an idea or thought and is made of 14 lines. In poetry, the volta is a rhetorical shift or dramatic change in thought and/or emotion. This final rhyming couplet contains a volta. This final rhyming couplet creates a sense of conclusion, which emphasises the speaker’s affection for his mistress despite all the previous undermining of her beauty.Īnd yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare G My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground. That music hath a far more pleasing sound F I love to hear her speak, yet well I know E

Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.

I have seen roses damasked, red and white, CĪnd in some perfumes is there more delight C If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head. If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun A My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun AĬoral is far more red than her lips' red B These lines list the different things that you can praise about somebody. They are devoted to the main idea of the poem, with the poet talking of his mistress in less than complimentary terms. The first twelve lines rhyme in alternating pairs. Sonnet 130 follows the rhyme scheme ABABCDCDEFEFGG. Sometimes this pattern changes, which can tell you something about the importance of the line. In iambic pentameter the rhythm goes ‘unstressed, stressed’. In each foot there is one stressed syllable. Pentameter means that each line is divided up into five feet. This is a name for a certain pattern of beats called ‘feet’. Shakespearean sonnets are written in iambic pentameter. Shakespeare didn’t invent the form, but he did help popularise it. A sonnet is a poem of 14 lines that follows a strict rhyming pattern.
