Sonnet is a poem that has fourteen lines written in iambic pentameter, five stressed syllables and five unstressed syllables. It is derived from the Italian word, sonetto, which means a little sound or song. The theme of sonnet centers on love, betrayal, hatred, affection, unrequited love. A sonnet has a regular rhyme scheme.

Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate.
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer’s lease hath all too short a date.

Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimmed;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance, or nature’s changing course, untrimmed;

But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st,
Nor shall death brag thou wand'rest in his shade,
When in eternal lines to Time thou grow'st.

So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

Forms of Sonnets

Petrarchan Sonnet
Petrarchan sonnet stemmed from Francesco Petrarch, an Italian poet, who wrote most of his poems to Laura, a married woman who never gave him any attention and barely knew that he existed. Petrarch was one of the first sonnet poets with da Lentini and others. Petrarchan sonnet is divided into two; octet/octave and sextet/sestet. An idea will be raised in the octet and it will be solved or resolved in the sextet. The octave has a regular rhyme scheme, which is; ABBAABBA but the sextet has two rhythm schemes which can be CDCCDC or CDECDE.

Shakespearean Sonnet
Shakespearean Sonnet also known as Elizabethan sonnet or English sonnet is the simplest and commonest sonnet among all. It originated from the popular poet and playwright, William Shakespeare. Shakespeare who 154 sonnets. His sonnets have a compelling rhyme scheme: ABAB CDCD EFEF . This means that his sonnets have three quatrains and a couplet.

Spenserian Sonnet
Spenserian Sonnet and Shakespearean sonnet are contemporaneous because their originators are contemporaries. Spenserian Sonnet stemmed from Edmund Spenser, an English poet. The only difference between the two sonnets is the rhyme schemes. Spenserian Sonnet rhyme scheme: ABAB BCBC CDCD EE

Miltonic Sonnet
Miltonic sonnet is from John Milton, an English poet who witnessed Shakespeare last eight years on earth. He brought few changes to Shakespearean sonnets which are the theme, and at times, rhythm and length. The theme changes from materialism to internal struggle or conflict.


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