SONNET

a short poem, consisting of fourteen lines, devoted to a single theme (often amatory). The metre used is iambic pentameter. The s. originated in Italy (some say Provence) and the Ttal. or Petrarchian s. was divided into an octave and a sestet. The rhymes followed fixed rules, the octave being always abba, abba, while the sestet might be of two or three rhymes arranged in almost any way, cde cde, cdc dcd, ete., etc, The s. was imported into England by the Early Elizabeth ans; and by Shakespeare and contemporaries hard-and-fast laws regarding division of lines and order of rhymes were discarded$ thus Spenser runs octave and sestet into one another, ee Milton, Words worth, and later sonneteers adhered more closely to Ital. models, but retained much freedom. ma greatest Fr. sonnet writer is Ronsard.