The sonnet is one of the poetic forms that can be found in lyric poetry from Europe.
The term “sonnet” derives from the Occitan word sonet and the Italian word sonetto, both meaning “little song”.
By the thirteenth century, it had come to signify a poem of fourteen lines that follows a strict rhyme scheme and specific structure.
The conventions associated with the sonnet have evolved over its history. The writers of sonnets are sometimes referred to as “sonneteers,” although the term can be used derisively.
One of the best-known sonnet writers is William Shakespeare, who wrote 154 of them.
A Shakespearean, or English sonnet consists of 14 lines, each line contains ten syllables, and each line is written in iambic pentameter in which a pattern of a non-emphasized syllable followed by an emphasized syllable is repeated five times.
The rhyme scheme in a Shakespearean sonnet is ABAB CDCD EFEF GG in which the last two lines are a rhyming couplet.
Traditionally, English poets employ iambic pentameter when writing sonnets.
In the Romance languages, the hendecasyllable and Alexandrine are the most widely used metres.