1. The Sonnet
Characteristics and Types

2. Characteristics
14 lines
Specific rhyme scheme
Basic meter is usually iambic pentameter
(10 syllables following the pattern of
unstressed syllable followed by a stressed
syllable)

3. Types
English (Shakespearean) Sonnet
Petrarchan Sonnet
Spenserian Sonnet

4. English (Spenserian) Sonnet
Rhyme Scheme: ababcdcdefefgg
Made up of 3 quatrains and a couplet
 Quatrain – 4 lines
 Couplet – 2 lines (rhyming)
Each quatrain is a unit of thought: They
kind of operate like a paragraph would in
prose writing
The concluding couplet makes some
comment about the quatrains before it.

5. Petrarchan Sonnet
Rhyme Scheme: abbaabbacdcdcd
Divided into an octave (eight lines) and a
sestet (six lines)
The first eight lines are related in content
Line nine is called “The Turn”
 Shift in rhyme pattern
 Change in subject matter

6. Spenserian Sonnet
Rhyme Scheme: ababbcbccdcdee
Format
 Similar to English Sonnet’s Format
 12 line problem
 2 line solution (closing couplet)

7. Spenserian Sonnet
Rhyme Scheme: ababbcbccdcdee
Format
 Similar to English Sonnet’s Format
 12 line problem
 2 line solution (closing couplet)