ENGLISH LITERATURE (CBSE/UGC NET)

Detailed explanation-1: -Traditionally, the sonnet is a fourteen-line poem written in iambic pentameter, employing one of several rhyme schemes, and adhering to a tightly structured thematic organization. The name is taken from the Italian sonetto, which means “a little sound or song.”

Detailed explanation-2: -Sonnet. A 14-line poem with a variable rhyme scheme originating in Italy and brought to England by Sir Thomas Wyatt and Henry Howard, earl of Surrey in the 16th century.

Detailed explanation-3: -A sonnet is a short lyric poem that consists of 14 lines, typically written in iambic pentameter (a 10-syllable pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables) and following a specific rhyme scheme (of which there are several-we’ll go over this point more in just a moment).

Detailed explanation-4: -William Baer suggests that the first eight lines of the earliest Sicilian sonnets are identical to the eight-line Sicilian folksong stanza known as the Strambotto. To this, da Lentini (or whoever else invented the form) added two tercets to the Strambotto in order to create the new 14-line sonnet form.