sonnet, sonet, sonette

[French sonnet, from Italian so net to, dim in. of so no (Lat. son us )=a sound. 1. A short poem, especially of an amatory kind. At first it was not imperative that it should consist of exactly fourteen lines. "He [Arion] had a wonderful desire to chaunt a sonnet or hymn unto Apollo Pythius." -P. Holland: Plutarch's Morals , p. 343. 2. The sonnet proper is a form of verse of Italian origin, and consists of fourteen lines, each of five accents, the whole being divided into two unequal parts (1) the first of eight lines, (2) the second of six. (1) In the first part there are two four-line stanzas. In each stanza the two middle lines rhyme together, and the two outside lines rhyme together, and the second stanza repeats the same rhymes as the first. (2) The second part consists of two three line stanzas. The first, second, and third lines in the first stanza rhyme severally with the first, second, and third lines of the second stanza. In the second part of the sonnet great variety prevails, The six lines all rhyme in some way together; but sometimes there are only two rhymes instead of three. Shakespeare's sonnets consist of fourteen lines, each of five accents. The first twelve rhyme alternately; the last two rhyme together.