The Sonnet
Form
One single stanza
14 lines
2 standard rhyme schemes
TheItalian (petrarchan) sonnetThe English (Shakespearean) sonnet
1 octave (8 lines) rhyming: abbaabba 3 quatrains rhyming: abab cdcd efef
1 sestet (6 lines) rhyming cdecde1 rhyming couplet: gg
example: Sir Thomas Wyatt: I find no peace (1557) example: Shakespeare: Sonnet no. 147
a I find no peace, and all my war is done. My love is as a fever, longing still a
b I fear and hope. I burn and freeze like ice. For that which longer nurseth the disease b
b I fly above the wind, yet can I not arise; Feeding on that which doth preserve the ill a
a And nought I have, and all the world I season. Th’ uncertain sickly appetite to please. b
a That loseth nor locketh holdeth me in prison My reason, the physician to my love c
b And holdeth me not--yet can I scape no wise-- Angry that his prescriptions are not kept d
b Nor letteth me live nor die at my device, Hath left me, and I desperate now approve c
a And yet of death it giveth me occasion Desire is death, which physic did except d
c Without eyen I see, and without tongue I plain. Past cure I am, now reason is past care e
d I desire to perish, and yet I ask health. And frantic mad with evermore unrest f
e I love another, and thus I hate myself. My thoughts and my discourse as madmen’s are e
c I feed me in sorrow and laugh in all my pain; At random from the truth vainly expressed f
d Likewise displeaseth me both life and death, For I have sworn thee fair, and thought thee bright g
e And my delight is causer of this strife. Who art as black as hell, as dark as night g