Most people identify the sonnet as one of the forms most linked to love poetry. However, did you know that there on twenty different variations?
BRIEF HISTORY
The sonnet is the poetic version of the sonata. The first on the sonnet scene, around the year 1200, were the Sicilian sonnets.
WHAT DOES LOVE HAVE TO DO WITH IT?
Many sonnets have a love theme. However, a romantic theme is not a requirement.
Francesco Petrarca, a poet in 1300s Italy, may have started this tradition with a squadron of sonnets for his beloved married (to another), Laura.
SHOULD HAVE
– 14 lines (**A couple of exceptions are listed in the variations)
– Prepare: an idea, a problem, a point of view, a question, a perspective or an issue.
– Turn/Volta: Strengthen a point, use an opposing point of view, answer a question, or change direction.
– Summary: wrap it up. Sometimes this step is combined with the volta.
COULD THERE BE or WHAT IS THE POET’S CHOICE IN ALL THIS?
– Rhyme scheme (see variations)
– Subway (see variations)
– Where to place the twist/flip. (see variations)
– subject/topic
Sonnet Variations
– Sicilian sonnet:
RHYTHM: iambic pentameter
RHYME: ABABABBA CDCDCD or ABBAABBA CDCDCD
IMPORTANT NOTE: The turn also starts with the ninth line.
– Italian Sonnet (also known as Petrarchan):
RHYTHM: iambic pentameter (from DUM de DUM de DUM de DUM de DUM)
rhyme: abbaabba cdecde
IMPORTANT NOTE: The turn begins with the ninth line.
– Sonetto Rispetto:
RHYTHM: iambic pentameter
RHYME: ABABCCDD EFGEFG or ABABCCDD EFEFEF
IMPORTANT NOTE: As in Italian and Sicilian, the volta begins with the ninth line.
– Sonnet in English (also known as Shakespearean or Elizabethan):
RHYTHM: iambic pentameter
RHYME: ABAB CDCD EFEF GG
IMPORTANT NOTE: The volta/giro comes in the final couplet (which can also summarize the sonnet).
– Spenserian Sonnet:
RHYTHM: iambic pentameter
RHYME: ABAB BCBC CDCD EE
OF NOTE: Like the English sonnet, the turn comes in the couplet.
– French sonnet:
RHYTHM: iambic pentameter
RHYME: ABBAABBA CCDEDE
OF NOTE: The volta comes in the ninth line and has a summary ending.
– **Caudated (AKA Tailed AKA Miltonian) Sonnet:
RHYTHM: iambic pentameter
RHYME: ABBAABBA CDECDE EFF FGG
OF NOTE: 20 LINES. The turn comes with the ninth line. The first verse of each of the triplets uses only three iambic feet (da DUM da DUM da DUM). IE: the E in EFF and the F in FGG.
– **Curtal (also known as reduced or contracted) Sonnet:
RHYTHM: iambic pentameter
RHYME: ABCABC DBCDC or ABCABC DCBDC
OF NOTE: 10 1/2 LINES. Volta comes in the seventh line.
– Sonnet in verse:
RHYTHM: iambic pentameter
RHYME: AA BB CC DD EE FF GG
OF NOTE: The choice of the poet in the placement of the turn.
– Crown of Sonnets (AKA Crown of Sonnets):
RHYTHM: Choose any variety of sonnets to use, just stay consistent throughout.
RHYME: The same as rhythm.
OF NOTE: Seven (or fourteen for a “perfect” crown) sonnets linked by repeating lines (like a pantoum). Each sonnet uses the last line of the previous sonnet to begin, and the last line of the final sonnet begins the first sonnet. This is not a series (or chain) of sonnets, but rather is considered a single (albeit long) poem.
– **Double Sonnet:
RHYTHM: Choose any sonnet variation.
RHYME: Choose any sonnet variation and then repeat (or double) it. EXAMPLE: A double verse sonnet would be – AA BB CC DD EE FF GG AA BB CC DD EE FF GG
OF NOTE: 28 LINES.
– About Sonnet: (Actually just a slight variation on the Italian sonnet)
RHYTHM: iambic pentameter
RHYME: ABBA CDDC EFGEFG or ABBA CDDC EFEFEF
IMPORTANT NOTE: The volta begins with the ninth line.
– ** Heroic Sonnet:
RHYTHM: iambic pentameter
RHYME: ABABABCC ABABABCC DD or ABAB CDCD EFEF GHGH II
OF NOTE: 18 LINES.
– Pushkin’s Sonnet: (Half English and half Italian)
RHYTHM: iambic pentameter
RHYME: ABAB CCDD EFF EGG or ABAB CCDD EFFE GG
OF NOTE: Made famous by Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin. If you set it as the first rhyme scheme (two quatrains and two triplets – more Italian), then the turn would be with the ninth line. If you choose the other (more English), then the volta would be in the final verse.
– ** Redoubled Sonnet:
RHYTHM: Choose any sonnet variation and stay consistent throughout.
RHYME: Choose any sonnet variation and stay consistent throughout.
OUTSTANDING: 15 SONNETS. They are linked together by the same means as a wreath of sonnets, BUT then each of the linked (repeated) lines creates the final sonnet.
-Terza Rima sonnet:
RHYTHM: iambic pentameter
RHYME: ABA BCB CDC DED EE
IMPORTANT NOTE: The twist is usually in the verse, but can be started anywhere in this way.
– Sonnet Sequence (AKA Sonnet Cycle):
RHYTHM: Choose any sonnet variation and stay consistent throughout.
RHYME: Choose any sonnet variation and stay consistent throughout.
OF NOTE: Any number of sonnets (more than one or two, obviously) that are linked by a unifying idea, theme, or theme.
– Sonnet in blank verse:
RHYTHM: iambic pentameter
RHYME: NONE
OF NOTE: Volta occurs somewhere in the middle.
– Sonnet in free verse:
RHYTHM: NONE
RHYME: NONE
OF NOTE: Volta occurs somewhere in the middle.
-Sandwich Sonnet: (A combination of Blank and Free Verse Sonnet)
RHYTHM: Iambic or not, you choose.
RHYME: ABCA DEFD AGHIJA or ABCDEDFA AGA DHD
IMPORTANT NOTE: There is a LOT of freedom with this form, including rhyming. I gave a few examples of what you could use, but they are endless AS LONG AS the rhyme is interspersed.
-Spanish Sonnet: (Combines French and Sicilian sonnets)
RHYTHM: iambic pentameter
RHYME: ABBA ABBA CDCDCD
IMPORTANT NOTE: The turn begins with the ninth line.
– Keats Sonnet:
RHYTHM: Use iambic, pyrrhic, spondeo, or trocheo. Choose as many or as few metric feet as you like, just stay consistent throughout.
RHYME: ABC ABD CAB CDE DE
OF NOTE: Volta can be found anywhere from the middle on up.
– Rubaiyat Sonnet:
RHYTHM: Iambic tetrameter (Four iambic feet – da DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM) or pentameter (Five iambic feet)
RHYME: AABA CCDC EEFE GG
OF NOTE: Turn is found in the verse.
– Red sonnet: (My own invention, which is a slight variation on the English sonnet):
RHYTHM: Same syllable count on each line. Any number of syllables can be used, just stay consistent throughout.
RHYME: ABAB CDCD EFEF GG
IMPORTANT NOTE: Turn and summary are in the final verse.
Like any form of poetry, learn the rules and then learn what works to break them!
