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Literature vocabulary · Poetry

Sonnet

Meaning in literature, with examples

/ˈsɒnɪt/nounCommon term

In literature, sonnet means: A poem of fourteen lines with a fixed rhyme scheme, usually in iambic pentameter in English, often about love or a single strong feeling.

In Turkish: sone

How it is used

Two main types: the Petrarchan (Italian) sonnet, with an octave and a sestet, and the Shakespearean (English) sonnet, with three quatrains and a final couplet. Shakespeare's 154 sonnets were published in 1609. The turn in thought is called the volta.

Example sentences

  1. Write a short analysis of one sonnet and explain what happens in the final couplet.

  2. Many of Shakespeare's sonnets are addressed to a young man, not a woman.

Common collocations

  • Shakespearean sonnet
  • Petrarchan sonnet
  • sonnet sequence
  • write a sonnet
  • coupletA pair of consecutive lines of poetry, usually of the same length and rhyming with each other, that form a unit of meaning.
  • iambic pentameterA line of poetry made of five iambs, each an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed one, giving ten syllables: da-DUM da-DUM da-DUM da-DUM da-DUM.
  • rhyme schemeThe pattern of rhymes at the ends of lines in a poem or stanza, shown with letters, for example ABAB, where lines with the same letter rhyme.
  • stanzaA group of lines in a poem, separated from other groups by a space, that works like a paragraph in prose.
  • poemA single piece of writing in lines, often with a regular rhythm or rhyme, that expresses an experience, feeling or idea through carefully chosen language.

More terms: Poetry

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