TYPES OF SONNET – Types Of This Fourteen-Line Long Poetic Form
TYPES OF SONNET – In this topic, we will now know and identify the following types of sonnet and the meaning of each.
A sonnet, as mentioned before, is a poetic form that has fourteen lines. This form emerged in the thirteenth century in the country Italy.
Although it kept its original rules like the number of lines and having a specific rhyme and meter, it gradually changed over the centuries to some degree.
Types
According to Masterclass, there are four main types:
- Italian or Petrarchan Sonnet
- Named after the Italian poet Francesco Petrarch, a lyrical poet of fourteenth-century Italy but the creation of this type is contributed to Giacomo da Lentini. Petrarcan is described to have 14 lines that is divided into two subgroups: an octave and setset. Octaves follows a rhyme scheme of ABBA ABBA while setsets follow either a CDC CDC scheme or a CDE CDE scheme.
- English, Elizabethan, or Shakespearean Sonnet
- This type is a variation on Italian sonnet tradition. It evolved in England during and around the time of the Elizabethan era, hence the name Elizabethan. It is described as having 14 lines divided into 4 subgroups: 3 quatrains and a couplet. There are ten syllables each line that is phrased in lambic pentameter and has the scheme ABAB CDCD EFEF GG.
- Spenserian Sonnet
- This is a variation on the Shakespearean sonnet with the scheme ABAB BCBC CDCD EE
- Miltonic Sonnet
- This is an evolution of the Shakespearean sonnet and usually examined an internal struggle or conflict rather than themes of the material world.