A Section on Sonnets

Lesson Plan - Get It!

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Although a sonnet is a type of lyric poem, specific elements make certain poems sonnets.

There are two types of sonnets. The most famous writer of sonnets is William Shakespeare. He is so infamously known for his sonnet writing; a type of sonnet is named after him!

The other type of sonnet is named after the famous Italian poet Petrarch.

Shakespearean sonnets . . .

are grouped in four lines (three sets of quatrains and a couplet at the end).

have a set rhyme scheme (abab, cdcd, efef, gg).

present twelve lines that consistently work together with a conclusion or alteration in the couplet at the poem's end.

Petrarchan sonnets . . .

are made of two parts (eight lines in the first part and six in the second).

have a set rhyme scheme, meaning that the rhyme pattern is the same for each sonnet. (Part 1- abba abba; Part 2- cdecde or cdcdcd. The letters represent a change in rhyme.)

present an answerable charge in the first part (the octave) and answer this charge in the second part (the sestet).

For more information about sonnets, check out the following videos.

A sonnet is poetry that follows specific rules.

Petrarch and Shakespeare wrote many, many sonnets in their lives; perhaps you will write many, too!

Continue to the Got It? section to further examine the two types of sonnets.