ENGLISH LITERATURE (CBSE/UGC NET)

Detailed explanation-1: -The original form is the Italian or Petrarchan sonnet, in which the 14 lines are arranged in an octet (8 lines) rhyming abba abba and a sestet (6 lines) rhyming either cdecde or cdcdcd.

Detailed explanation-2: -English poets borrowed the sonnet form from the Italian poet Francesco Petrarch. Traditionally, it has fourteen lines of iambic pentameter linked by an intricate rhyme scheme.

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.

Detailed explanation-5: -The English Sonnet, or Shakespearean Sonnet, named for William Shakespeare (1564-1616). Both sonnet forms have 14 lines, but differ in structure and rhyme scheme.