Sonnet types

The Makings of Literature in English: The Sonnet Tradition
The making of a literature in English is the story of an English Bible, of humanist works which attempted to improve society through perfection of the individual, and of a poetic tradition which began most clearly with the sonnet.

What is a Sonnet?

A sonnet is a poem of fourteen iambic pentameter lines. It follows one of several set rhyme schemes. The two basic types are

• the Italian or Petrarchan: generally an octave + a sestet (abbaabba + cdecde, cdcdcd or cdedce). The octave presents a narrative, rasises a question or states a proposition to which the sestet then responds.
• the English or Shakespearean: uses four divisions: three quatrains + rhymed couplet for a conclusion. The quatrains can have different rhyme schemes, but the typical pattern is abab cdcd efef gg.

But there is a third type:

• the Spenserian: quite rare, this style complicates the Shakespearean form by linking rhymes in the quatrains: abab bcbc cdcd ee.