Most people identify the Sonnet as one of the most linked to love Poetry forms. However, did you know that there are over twenty different variations?
BRIEF HISTORY
The Sonnet is the poetic version of the sonata. First on the Sonnet scene, around the 1200s, were the Sicilian Sonnets.
WHATS LOVE GOT TO DO WITH IT?
Many Sonnets have a love theme. However, a romantic theme is not a requirement.
Francesco Petrarch, a poet in 1300s Italy, may have started this tradition with a squadron of Sonnets to his married (to another) ladylove, Laura.
MUST HAVES
- 14 lines (**A couple exceptions are listed in the variations)
- Set up: An idea, issue, point of view, question, outlook or theme.
- Turn/Volta: Fortify a point, use an opposite point of view, answer a question, or take a change in direction.
- Summary: Wrap it up. Sometimes this step is combined with the Volta.
COULD HAVES or WHAT IS THE POETS CHOICE IN ALL THIS?
- Rhyme scheme (see variations)
- Meter (see variations)
- Where to place the turn/Volta. (see variations)
- Topic/theme
Variations of the Sonnet
- Sicilian Sonnet:
RHYTHM: Iambic pentameter
RHYME: ABABABAB CDCDCD or ABBAABBA CDCDCD
OF NOTE: The turn also begins with the ninth line.
- Italian (AKA Petrarchan) Sonnet:
RHYTHM: Iambic pentameter (da DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM)
RHYME: abbaabba cdecde
OF NOTE: The turn begins with the ninth line.
- Sonetto Rispetto:
RHYTHM: Iambic pentameter
RHYME: ABABCCDD EFGEFG or ABABCCDD EFEFEF
OF NOTE: As in the Italian and Sicilian, the Volta starts with the ninth line.
- English (AKA Shakespearean or Elizabethan) Sonnet:
RHYTHM: Iambic pentameter
RHYME: ABAB CDCD EFEF GG
OF NOTE: The Volta/turn comes at the ending couplet (which can also summarize the Sonnet).
- Spenserian Sonnet:
RHYTHM: Iambic p entameter
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 summarized ending.
- **Caudated (AKA Tailed AKA Miltonian) Sonnet:
RHYTHM: Iambic pentameter
RHYME: ABBAABBA CDECDE EFF FGG
OF NOTE: 20 LINES. Turn comes with the ninth line. The first line in each of the tercets only uses three Iambic feet (da DUM da DUM da DUM). IE: the E in EFF and the F in FGG.
- **Curtal (AKA Curtailed OR Contracted) Sonnet:
RHYTHM: Iambic Pentameter
RHYME: ABCABC DBCDC or ABCABC DCBDC
OF NOTE: 10 1/2 LINES. Volta comes at the seventh line.
- Couplet Sonnet:
RHYTHM: Iambic Pentameter
RHYME: AA BB CC DD EE FF GG
OF NOTE: Poet's choice on turn placement.
- Crown of Sonnets (AKA Corona of Sonnets):
RHYTHM: Pick any variety of Sonnets to use, just stay consistent throughout.
RHYME: 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 Sonnet before it to begin and the final Sonnet's last line begins the first Sonnet. This is not a series (or chain) of Sonnets but considered a single (albeit long) poem.
- **Double Sonnet:
RHYTHM: Choose any Sonnet variation.
RHYME: Choose any Sonnet variation then repeat (or double) it. EXAMPLE: A double couplet Sonnet would be - AA BB CC DD EE FF GG AA BB CC DD EE FF GG
OF NOTE: 28 LINES.
- Envelope Sonnet: (Actually only a slight variation of the Italian Sonnet)
RHYTHM: Iambic pentameter
RHYME: ABBA CDDC EFGEFG or ABBA CDDC EFEFEF
OF 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 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 up as the first rhyme scheme (two quatrains and two tercets - 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 ending couplet.
- **Sonnet Redouble':
RHYTHM: Choose any Sonnet variation and stay consistent throughout.
RHYME: Choose any Sonnet variation and stay consistent throughout.
OF NOTE: 15 SONNETS. They are linked with each other by the same means as a Crown of Sonnets BUT then each of the linked (repeated) lines create the final Sonnet.
- Terza Rima Sonnet:
RHYTHM: Iambic pentameter
RHYME: ABA BCB CDC DED EE
OF NOTE: The turn is usually in the couplet but can be started anywhere in this form.
- 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 tied by a unifying idea, theme or subject.
- Blank Verse Sonnet:
RHYTHM: Iambic pentameter
RHYME: NONE
OF NOTE: Volta occurs somewhere in the middle.
- Free Verse Sonnet:
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
OF NOTE: There is a LOT of freedom with this form, including the rhyme. I gave some examples of what you could use, but they are endless AS LONG AS the rhyme is sandwiched.
- Spanish Sonnet: (Combines the French and Sicilian Sonnets)
RHYTHM: Iambic pentameter
RHY ME: ABBA ABBA CDCDCD
OF NOTE: Turn is begun with the ninth line.
- Keats Sonnet:
RHYTHM: Use iambic, pyrrhic, spondee or trochee. Pick as many or as few, metrical feet as you like, just stay consistent throughout.
RHYME: ABC ABD CAB CDE DE
OF NOTE: Volta can be found anywhere from the middle onward.
- 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 couplet.
- Red Sonnet: (My own invention, which is a slight variation of the English Sonnet.):
RHYTHM: Same syllabic count in each line. Any number of syllables can be used, just stay consistent throughout.
RHYME: ABAB CDCD EFEF GG
OF NOTE: Turn and summary meet in the final couplet.
Like any Poetry form, learn the rules and then learn what works in breaking them!
2006 Holly Bliss. All Rights Reserved. This docu ment may be freely redistributed in its unedited form and on the condition that all copyright references are kept intact along with the hyperlinked URLs.
About the Author: Using her Writing as paint on the canvas of her life, Holly Bliss is an eclectic Writer, newsletter editor and an Author on http://www.Writing.Com/ which is a site for Poetry.
Author:: Holly Bliss
Keywords:: Poetry, Sonnet, How-to, how to, Writing, Write, History, Volta, Sonnet Writing, Author, Authoring
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