Fixed Form Experiments - The Sonnet

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.

- Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Sonnet 43

The second installment of the Fixed Form Poetry series! This time, it's all you need to know about sonnets. Without unnecessary ado, let's get right into it – we'll examine sonnet definitions, types and techniques, and through it all we'll look at a few great historical sonnets. 
 

What is a sonnet?

A sonnet is a poem with 14 lines, a fixed meter, fixed rhyme scheme and a shift in mood during the poem. Sonnets often handle themes of emotions, love, death, or freedom. 

Traditional sonnets are comprised of two sections, or stanzas: the 8-line stanza called the octave, and the 6-line stanza called the sestet. The octave will typically include an argument, a proposition, or an idea, while the sestet will shift the tone and bring a solution, a reconciliation, or a different point of view. The moment when the sections switch and we understand that there's been a shift in tone is called the volta. The volta will usually be at the beginning of the sestet, immediately after the octave.

Let's examine all of these points one at a time.
 

Meter - Iambic Pentameter

Sonnets have been written in different meters since their inception. Italian, which is the language sonnets were being written in first, lent itself to writing eleven syllable lines pretty comfortably. These first sonnets are related to the Sicilian octave, another poetic form originating in Italy. Later, when the sonnet was discovered in England, the form settled mostly on iambic pentameter to accommodate the English language.

Iambic pentameter means that the foot, i.e. the basic component in a line, the repeating sound, is the iamb, and that there are five of them in a line (penta = five).
An iamb is a two-syllable sound which stresses the second syllable ("da-DUM"), in other words, it has an unstressed-stressed pattern. Examples of iambs are seduce, divide, alarm, begin. An iamb doesn't have to be represented by a single word though: to write, I am, we went are all valid iambs as well, if the line allows for it. How do we count iambs? Simply going da-DUM, da-DUM, da-DUM mentally should do the trick, taking note of how many da-DUM rhythms there are.

We need five of these to compose a line in iambic pentameter.

Now, if you only used five disjointed two-syllable words, you would technically have an iambic pentameter line. 
"Seduce divide alarm begin expand" is technically in iambic pentameter, but obviously none of us wants to write this way (unless you're doing a super modern avant-garde take on the sonnet, in which case go for it). To write good lines, you'll have to manipulate and twist the words to create iambs. 

See if you can count the iambs in the following example before looking at the copy below.

"I love her for her smile—her look—her way
Of speaking gently,—for a trick of thought..."
- Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Sonnet 14

Awesome, isn't it? Now, here are the stresses in bold. Remember, an iamb is an unstressed-stressed pattern, so the boldened stresses are the ends of iambs.

"I love her for her smile—her look—her way
Of speaking gently,—for a trick of thought..."

Some of the easy iambs in this example: I love, her look, her way. These start and end in and of themselves, and you'd easily use them in any poem. But then, look at the more complex iambs:
"Of spea-" is a full iamb, but not a full word – completing the word and then the grammatical clause gives us two and a half iambs: "Of spea/king gen/tly". That is how poets manipulate words and extract rhythms.

Instructive moment! You should go ahead and look for rhythms inside words, then try and fuse them together.
 

Rhyme Scheme

As discussed briefly above, sonnets have been written in different cultures throughout time. Each iteration of the sonnet comes with its own distinct rhyme scheme, but the meter remains the same in most of them.


Italian sonnet (Petrarchan)
This is the type we've been looking at in the introduction. The Italian sonnet, otherwise known as the Petrarchan sonnet, named after one of the first Italian sonnet writers, Francesco Petrarch, comes with 14 lines divided into an octave and a sestet (or an 8-line stanza and a 6-line stanza). This is also the version that will most prominently use the volta. The common rhyme scheme is as follows:

ABBAABBA CDECDE

The sestet can often rhyme in other ways, like CDCDCD, CDCCDC, or CDDCEE

To visualize this easier, divide the octave further into two quatrains, or 4-line groups. The two groups will have an identical ABBA rhyme scheme each. The sestet can similarly be divided into two 3-line groups, both in a CDE rhyme scheme, or, alternatively, CDC. For an alternate variation, divide the sestet into three couplets, rhyming CD. 

This means that none the lines in the sestet can rhyme with any of the lines in the octave.
 
Example: 
A    She stepped into my heart so vividly, 
B    A thing of light and warmth!- as well unknown, 
B    A princess, having wandered from her throne, 
A    Might crowd a peasant's but with courtesy. 
A    And she is dead!-and dead my soul in me; 
B    She storms the stars!-and I could turn a stone 
B    To blood and tears of blood: but there is none 
A    To tell love's pain and my soul's poverty. 

C    These plead too deep for any ears save mine, 
D    Who sing, with equal emptiness oppressed, 
D    As moans the bird about a barren nest. 
C    Ah, we are shadows crying for a sign! 
E    Ah, sick and sightless stares the human will! 
E    Ah, hope is a mirage that cheats us still! 

- Petrarch, After the Death of Laura, Sonnet XXVI
 

English sonnet (Shakespearean)
When the sonnet form arrived in England in the 16th century, many authors took to adapting it into the English language. The first change that took place was making iambic pentameter the mainstay technique, as opposed to the eleven-syllable (hendecasyllabic) system used in Italian. 
The other main difference, and one that concerns us today, is the change in rhyme scheme and structure. While the Italian or Petrarchan sonnet consisted of two sections, namely octave and sestet, the English sonnet went on to break into three quatrains and a couplet. The rhyme scheme then became:

ABAB CDCD EFEF GG

This means that instead of having an octave in ABBAABBA (or two identically rhymed quatrains), we now have three quatrains all rhymed differently, and the sestet is reduced to a couplet rhyming on its own. The English sonnet offers more rhyming variety, because as you can see, none of the lines rhyme outside of their quatrains.
The volta, if present here, is now contained within the last two lines.

Example:
A    As an unperfect actor on the stage,
B    Who with his fear is put beside his part,
A    Or some fierce thing replete with too much rage,
B    Whose strength's abundance weakens his own heart;
C    So I, for fear of trust, forget to say
D    The perfect ceremony of love's rite,
C    And in mine own love's strength seem to decay,
D    O'ercharged with burthen of mine own love's might.
E    O! let my looks be then the eloquence
F    And dumb presagers of my speaking breast,
E    Who plead for love, and look for recompense,
F    More than that tongue that more hath more express'd.
G      O! learn to read what silent love hath writ:
G      To hear with eyes belongs to love's fine wit.

- Shakespeare, Sonnet 23

There are many other variants of the sonnet, but for brevity's sake we'll conclude with the Italian and the English, the two most common forms. Other variants may appear in separate dedicated blog posts. Why don't you investigate some of them on your own in the meantime?
 

The Volta

The volta is less a part of the sonnet structure than it is an aspect. It is the line/idea/phrase that contains a shift in the poem's mood. Sometimes it can serve as the start of an optimistic passage in a melancholic poem, other times it is the switch in character perspective. The volta can be a great many things really, but what is consistent about it is that it's a switch.

Where in the poem the volta should appear is not a rule set in stone: the conventions are that in an Italian sonnet it will come in the 9th line, after the octave, and in the English sonnet it will be in the 12th or 13th line, right at the start of the final couplet. But it is really up to you where you choose to shift the tone – you can even have a volta as early as line 5 or 6, then maybe have a second volta near the end! 

The sonnet form evolved throughout the centuries and the conventions surrounding the volta began to twist as poets started experimenting with the form more. That being said, it's probably best to stick to traditional conventions when writing your first few sonnets, just to get the hang of what the form is meant to do.

The volta is a term specific to the sonnet, but let's look at a few random unpoetic sentences to illustrate its function:

I knew Jeremy as a brave and courageous soul, but when he refused to jump off the ledge it made him look cowardly.  – reveals character's true nature

The wizards in the tower dominated the land, and yet they couldn't survive the uprising of the people.   – implies that the wizards ruled possibly through politics and a fake iron hand, not through skill and real leadership

The concept of the volta can be accomplished with something as simple as a single but or yet. Naturally, your phrase will shift to say the opposite of what it's been saying before, and you'll reveal more details about the character or situation when it does. That's one way you'll have yourself a nice simple volta. 
Of course you can come up with many other different ways to use the volta. It doesn't have to be limited to words like but.

The Stage is Yours

Now, having learned the components of the sonnet form, why don't you try writing some of your own? Let's recap.

The sonnet features:

• Fourteen lines
• An octave and a sestet (Italian)
• Three quatrains and a couplet (English)
• ABBAABBA CDECDE (Italian)
• ABAB CDCD EFEF GG (English)
• The volta

Feel free to post your work in the comments of this blog post. I'll remind the best sonnets on my channel and in poetry groups. If you have any questions, put them in the comments too. I'll try and answer them the best I can.

Check out some contemporary sonnets on Poetry Foundation.
Petrarch's sonnets, English translations here.
Shakespeare's sonnets here.

Have a nice one, and next up: octelles.
Previously: Blog Series Introduction.