ENGLISH LITERATURE (CBSE/UGC NET)

Detailed explanation-1: -A sonnet can be broken into four sections called quatrains . The first three quatrains contain four lines each and use an alternating rhyme scheme.

Detailed explanation-2: -Named after one of its greatest practitioners, the Italian poet Petrarch, the Petrarchan sonnet is divided into two stanzas, the octave (the first eight lines) followed by the answering sestet (the final six lines).

Detailed explanation-3: -The structure can be divided into three quatrains (four-line stanzas) plus a final rhyming couplet (two-line stanza). The Shakespearean sonnet rhyme scheme is abab cdcd efef gg. Many other sonnet structures have been invented by an array of poets (we’ll go over what these are shortly).

Detailed explanation-4: -The first three subgroups have four lines each, which makes them “quatrains, ” with the second and fourth lines of each group containing rhyming words. The sonnet then concludes with a two-line subgroup, and these two lines rhyme with each other. There are typically ten syllables per line.

Detailed explanation-5: -A sonnet is a poem of 14 lines that reflects upon a single issue or idea. It usually takes a turn, called a “volta, ” about 8 lines in, and then resolves the issue by the end. Shakespearean sonnets use iambic pentameter and an ABAB CDCD EFEF GG rhyme scheme, but don’t worry too much about all that.