Poetry Sonnet Forms and Terms

Italian Sonnet

A poetic form with 14 lines, an octave, and a sestet, following specific rhyme schemes. an eight-line stanza (octave) rhyming ABBAABBA, and a six-line stanza (sestet) rhyming CDCDCD or CDECDE.

English Sonnet

A sonnet with 14 lines, three quatrains, and a final rhymed couplet, following a specific rhyme scheme. rhyme scheme is ABAB CDCD EFEF GG.

Octave

A stanza with eight lines, commonly used in Italian sonnets. (first)

Sestet

A stanza with six lines, commonly used in various poetic forms including Italian sonnets. (second)

Quatrain

A stanza with four lines, often with various rhyme schemes, commonly used in many types of poetry including sonnets.

Couplet

Two lines of verse that usually rhyme and have the same meter, often forming a complete thought or expressing a complete idea.

Meter

The rhythmic structure of a verse in a poem, determined by the pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables.

Metrical Foot

A unit of meter, consisting of a combination of stressed and unstressed syllables that form the basic building blocks of poetic rhythm.

Iamb

A metrical foot with two syllables, the first unstressed and the second stressed, commonly used in English poetry.

Iambic Pentameter

A metrical line of verse with five iambs, or ten syllables, with the stress falling on every second syllable, commonly used in English poetry including Shakespearean sonnets and blank verse.