Sonnet

The traditional sonnet form became popular during the Renaissance. This poem consisted of fourteen lines with a specific meter and rhyme scheme which depended on the sonnet form it was written in. Most would have a set of eight lines called an octave or two four line sets called quatrains. These would be followed by a sestet or grouping of six lines. When the sonnet found its way to Elizabethan England, the form was toyed with, most famously by William Shakespeare who created the Elizabethan or Shakespearian sonnet wherein three sets of quatrains would be written in iambic pentameter and ended with a rhyming couplet (Miller). With the advent of free verse, the relatively strict rules of sonnet structure broke down completely. Lines no longer had to rhyme nor follow any particular rhythm. Poet Laureate Billy Collin's poem titled "Sonnet" is a perfect example of the modern sonnet in...
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