English sonnet
- noun
- /ˈɪŋɡlɪʃ ˈsɒnɪt/
- Literature
:
soneto inglés
- Many of Shakespeare's poems are written as English sonnets, marked by their distinctive rhyme scheme.
Examples
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Students analyzed how each English sonnet concludes with a powerful rhyming couplet.
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The English sonnet form is often used to express deep emotion within a structured pattern.
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Shakespeare wrote many famous English sonnets.
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An English sonnet typically has a specific rhyme scheme.
-
Many of Shakespeare's poems are written as English sonnets, marked by their distinctive rhyme scheme.
-
Students analyzed how each English sonnet concludes with a powerful rhyming couplet.
-
The English sonnet form is often used to express deep emotion within a structured pattern.
Synonyms
1
8.8
A 14-line poem that has three four-line parts and final two lines with the rhyme abab cdcd efef gg
A 14-line poem with three four-line parts and a final two-line part with a regular rhyme pattern
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase is compositionally predictable: a learner who knows 'English' and 'sonnet' can infer it denotes a type or tradition of sonnet associated with English practice (i.e., a particular kind of sonnet). However, the specific formal properties (three quatrains and a concluding couplet, rhyme scheme, iambic pentameter) are specialized literary knowledge that cannot be derived from the constituents alone, so full meaning requires prior exposure.
Etymology
English sonnet comes from the style made famous by English poets like Shakespeare: it is built from three groups of four lines and ends with a final two-line couplet. This picture of three short parts and a closing two-line 'answer' helps explain why the name means a sonnet with that exact structure.