The document discusses different types of sonnets - Italian/Petrarchan, Shakespearean, and Spenserian. A sonnet is 14 lines with a specific rhyme scheme (abab cdcd efef gg). In Shakespearean sonnets, the volta or turn in the argument occurs before the final couplet which offers a summary or new perspective. Sonnets develop a sequence of ideas or metaphors and each quatrain should be read like a separate paragraph. The document provides two examples of sonnets with their rhyme schemes and lines.