Literary terms · AP English Literature, AP English Language, SAT Reading and Writing, ACT Reading
Sonnet
Sonnet: A fourteen-line poem, traditionally in iambic pentameter, with a set rhyme scheme and a turn in thought.
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What it means
The Petrarchan (Italian) sonnet divides into an octave of eight lines and a sestet of six. The Shakespearean (English) sonnet uses three quatrains and a closing couplet. Poets often work against these forms, and departures from the expected pattern can be meaningful.
The form's compression and its built-in turn make it well suited to arguments, problems and resolutions.
Example
A Shakespearean sonnet might use three quatrains to describe three ways time destroys beauty, then use the couplet to claim the poem itself will preserve the beloved.
On the exam
Explain how the structure, especially the turn or the couplet, shapes meaning.
Lessons and practice questions
Related terms
- VoltaThe turn in a poem, especially a sonnet, where the argument, mood or perspective shifts.
- Iambic pentameterA line of verse with five iambs, each an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed one, for about ten syllables.
- StanzaA group of lines in a poem separated from other groups by white space, functioning like a paragraph.