Overview of Poems Sonnet

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What is a sonnet?

Basically it is;

One of several forms of poetry originating in Europe mainly Great Britain and Italy and commonly have 14 lines.

The term "sonnet" derives from the Occitan word sonet and the Italian word sonetto, both meaning "little song" or "little sound"

History
The Italian, or Petrarchan sonnet, named after Francesco Petrarch (1304-1374), the Italian poet, was introduced into English poetry in the early 16th century by Sir Thomas Wyatt (1503-1542). Its fourteen lines break into an octave (or octet), which usually rhymes abbaabba, but which may sometimes be abbacddc or even (rarely) abababab; and a sestet, which may rhyme xyzxyz or xyxyxy, or any of the multiple variations possible using only two or three rhyme-sounds. The English or Shakespearean sonnet, developed first by Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey (1517-1547), consists of three quatrains and a couplet-that is, it rhymes abab cdcd efef gg.

Types of Sonnet
There are several types of sonnet. The most famous are; The English Sonnet The Italian Sonnet Spenserian Sonnet

The English Sonnet

The English sonnet is also known as a Shakespearean sonnet after its most famous writer.

The English sonnet is constructed of three quatrains of alternating rhyme ("abab cdcd efef"), followed by a single couplet.

While Shakespeare often placed the sonnet's volta in the ninth line, the English sonnet is flexible about the volta's placement and the form doesn't require its placement in a specific line.

The Italian Sonnet

An Italian sonnet consists of two sections. The first part is an octave, or eight lines, with an "abba abba" rhyming pattern.

The second part is a sestet, or six lines. The rhyming pattern for the sestet is somewhat more flexible, although an Italian sonnet never ends with a couplet.

The Italian ("cdc cdc") and Sicilian ("cdc dcd") are the two most popular rhyming patterns for the closing sestet. An Italian sonnet's volta is always in the ninth line.

Spenserian Sonnet

This sonnet consists of three Sicilian quatrains and a final couplet.

The rhyming scheme ("abab bcbc cdcd ee") connects each of the quatrains so that they form one unit, although each quatrain introduces a specific thought.

Edmund Spenser created this sonnet by experimenting with the rhyming and stanza pattern he used in "The Faerie Queene."

How to?
If you have a grip on blank verse and can write a couplet, tercet, and quatrain, then the sonnet--either kind--will come easy to you.

Both types are composed in three parts, so the sonnet can be simplified, in a way, by being broken down. It's like making an outline. The turn, usually takes care of itself somehow, and the more the writer worries about it, the more difficult it will be to reach. As with any poem of any kind, let the structure guide you, not vise versa. If you allow the feel and movement of the sonnet to take the poem to the next line, the turn will happen and the sonnet will be well on its way to being complete.

Reference
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=So nnet&printable=yes#Types_of_sonnets http://www.uni.edu/~gotera/CraftOfPoetry/s onnet.html http://www.utm.edu/departments/english/ev erett/sonnet.htm