The two most common sonnet variations are the Italian sonnet (also called a Petrarchan sonnet), and the English sonnet (also called a Shakespearean sonnet). Within these general guidelines for what makes a sonnet, there are a wide variety of variations.
Sonnets generally use a meter of iambic pentameter, and follow a set rhyme scheme. Traditionally, the fourteen lines of a sonnet consist of an octave (or two quatrains making up a stanza of 8 lines) and a sestet (a stanza of six lines). What is a sonnet? Here’s a quick and simple definition:Ī sonnet is a type of fourteen-line poem.
