A sonnet is a 14-line poem with a specific rhyme scheme and meter. There are three main types of sonnets: the Italian or Petrarchan sonnet, which has an octave rhyme scheme followed by a sestet; the English or Shakespearean sonnet, which has three quatrains followed by a rhyming couplet; and the Spenserian sonnet, which has three quatrains followed by a rhyming couplet. All sonnets are written in iambic pentameter and introduce a problem or question that is resolved after a "turn" or volta between the octave and sestet or after line 8 or 10.

1. What is a Sonnet?

2. Sonnet Form
 A sonnet has 14 lines.
 A sonnet must be written in iambic
pentameter.
 A sonnet must follow a specific rhyme
scheme, depending on the type of sonnet.
 A sonnet can be about any subject, though
they are often about love or nature.
 A sonnet introduces a problem or question in
the beginning, and a resolution is offered
after the turn.

3. Italian Sonnet
 An Italian Sonnet is also called a Petrarchan
Sonnet.
 It includes an octave (eight lines) and a sestet (six
lines).
 The rhyme scheme must begin with abbaabba, and
can conclude with any variation of c, d, and e
(cdecde, cdcdee, etc.).
 The turn (volta) in subject matter or response must
occur between the octave and the sestet.

4. London, 1802
Milton! thou shouldst be living at this hour: A
England hath need of thee: she is a fen B
Of stagnant waters: altar, sword, and pen, B
Fireside, the heroic wealth of hall and bower, A
Have forfeited their ancient English dower A
Of inward happiness. We are selfish men; B
Oh! raise us up, return to us again; B
And give us manners, virtue, freedom, power. A
Thy soul was like a Star, and dwelt apart; C
Thou hadst a voice whose sound was like the sea: D
Pure as the naked heavens, majestic, free, D
So didst thou travel on life's common way, E
In cheerful godliness; and yet thy heart C
The lowliest duties on herself did lay. E

5. Iambic Pentameter
 Iambic Pentameter is made up of two words, where
pentameter is a combination of ‘pent,’ which means five,
and ‘meter,’ which means to measure.
 Iambic, on the other hand, is a metrical foot in poetry in
which an unstressed syllable is followed by a stressed
syllable.
 It means iambic pentameter is a beat or foot that uses 10
syllables in each line.
 Simply, it is a rhythmic pattern comprising five iambs in
each line, like five heartbeats.

6.  Iambic pentameter is one of the most commonly used
meters in English poetry. For instance, in the excerpt,
“When I see birches bend to left and right/Across the
line of straighter darker Trees…” (Birches, by Robert
Frost), each line contains five feet, and each foot uses
one iamb.
 THAT’S my last Duchess painted on the wall,
Looking as if she were alive. I call
That piece a wonder, now: Frà Pandolf’s hands
Worked busily a day, and there she stands…

7. English Sonnet
 In English, both the English (or Shakespearean) sonnet and the
Italian Petrarchan sonnet are traditionally written in iambic
pentameter.
 The first known sonnets in English, written by Sir Thomas
Wyatt and Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, used the Italian,
Petrarchan form, as did sonnets by later English poets
 An English Sonnet is also called a Shakespearean Sonnet.
 It includes three quatrains (groups of four lines) and a couplet (two
lines).
 The rhyme scheme is often abab cdcd efef gg.
 The turn is either after eight lines or ten lines.

8. "Sonnet XXIX"
When in disgrace with Fortune and men's eyes, A
I all alone beweep my outcast state, B
And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries, A
And look upon myself and curse my fate, B
Wishing me like to one more rich in hope, C
Featured like him, like him with friends possessed, D
Desiring this man's art and that man's scope, C
With what I most enjoy contented least, D
Yet in these thoughts my self almost despising, E
Haply I think on thee, and then my state, F
(Like to the lark at break of day arising E
From sullen earth) sings hymns at heaven's gate, F
For thy sweet love remembered such wealth brings, G
That then I scorn to change my state with kings. G

9. Spenserian Sonnet
 Invented by Edmond Spencer
 It includes three quatrains (12 lines) and a couplet.
 The rhyme scheme is abab bcbc cdcd ee
 The turn is the couplet.
 Linked rhyme

10. "Sonnet LIV"
Of this World's theatre in which we stay, A
My love like the Spectator idly sits, B
Beholding me, that all the pageants play, A
Disguising diversely my troubled wits. B
Sometimes I joy when glad occasion fits, B
And mask in mirth like to a Comedy; C
Soon after when my joy to sorrow flits, B
I wail and make my woes a Tragedy. C
Yet she, beholding me with constant eye, C
Delights not in my mirth nor rues my smart; D
But when I laugh, she mocks: and when I cry C
She laughs and hardens evermore her heart. D
What then can move her? If nor mirth nor moan, E
She is no woman, but a senseless stone. E