Poetry in Form: Sonnets
NaPoWriMo Poetry Prompts
Sonnets are often the first poetic form people learn about, and for good reason. They are fourteen lines long, usually about one subject, and contain a brief argument that makes a distinct point. These three qualities — brevity, focus, and argument — make them accessible to those who are beginning to read poetry.
The two traditional forms of the sonnet are the Shakespearean (think Shakespeare) and the Petrarchan (think — you guessed it — Petrarch). Both are 14 lines long and include a “volta,” or turn, in the argument or imagery of the poem occurring around line 9, and both are traditionally written in iambic pentameter and rhyme.
Much formal poetry is about repetition. The repetition can be of lines or words in specific patterns, or the repetition of a metrical pattern or a rhyme pattern. Like language, though, poetic forms are constantly evolving. Sonnets that experimented more radically are sometimes called “nonce sonnets.”
Once the sonnet form was established, poets started stretching it to fit their taste. One experiment that kept meter and rhyme was the blues sonnet. The twentieth century saw much variation on the sonnet form, but that variation has been going on for centuries. Poets employ varied rhyme schemes, or no rhyme schemes, or change the traditional number of lines, as…
