English and Italian Sonnet

The English sonnet or Shakespearian sonnet is made up of  three quatrains and a couplet with the ryhme scheme of abab cdcd efef gg.

Example:

To Wordsworth by: John Clare

Wordsworth I love, his books are like the fields,

Not filled with flowers, but works of human kind;

The pleasant weed a fragrant pleasure yields,

The briar and broomwood shaken by the wind,

The thorn and bramble o'er the water shoot

A finer flower than gardens e'er gave birth,

The aged huntsman grubbing up the root--

I love them all as tenants of the earth:

Where genius is, there often die the seeds;

What critics throw away I love the more;

I love to stoop and look among the weeds,

To find a flower I never knew before;

Wordsworth, go on--a greater poet be;

Merit will live, though parties disagree!

The Italian sonnet or Petrarchan is composed of an octet, eight lines with a rhyme scheme of abbaabba, and a sestet, six lines of abcabc or ababab.

Example:

Italian Sonnet Turn back the heart you've turned away Give back your kissing breath Leave not my love as you have left The broken hearts of yesterday But wait, be still, don't lose this way Affection now, for what you guess May be something more, could be less Accept my love, live for today. Your roses wilted, as love spurned Yet trust in me, my love and truth Dwell in my heart, from which you've turned My strength as great as yours aloof. It is in fear you turn away And miss the chance of love today! James DeFord