PostPoems Be Artistic. Be Creative. Be Inspired!

Thirteener Sonnet

This variation was invented by John Hollander. It has 13 lines, each possessing 13 syllables. It is a syllabic form, and has no rhyme or metrical scheme.

The Terza Rima Sonnet

Another hybrid of two forms. The Terza Rima is an Italian form, used most famously by Dante. It is a 3-line stanza, or tercet, of interlocking rhymes. The 2nd line of each stanza rhyming with the 1st and 3rd lines of the following stanza. As with a Rubaiyat this form lends itself easily into Sonnet form, as the 2nd line of the final tercet becomes the rhyme for the concluding couplet. As with most interlocking and alternating variations there is no discernable volta, but the couplet can provide a useful summation. In the example below the couplet is an Alexandrine (12 syllable line), but this was just poetic license, and it not a part of the form. The rhyme scheme is a,b,a, b,c,b, c,d,c, d,e,d, e,e.

The Keats Sonnet

Named after John Keats, this variation is comprised of four tercets (3-line stanza) and a couplet. The layout of the rhyme is uniquely Keatsian, interweaving between the different stanzas. Any metrical scheme is allowed, and there is no volta. The rhyme scheme is a,b,c, a,b,d, c,a,b, c,d,e, d,e.

The Curtal Sonnet

This variation was invented by Gerald Manley Hopkins. Its two unique features are its line length, 11 lines, and its final line which is composed solely of a spondee (a metrical foot of two stressed syllables). It is comprised of a sestet and a quintet. The Volta divides the two stanzas. The rhyme scheme is a,b,c,a,b,a, for the sestet and d,b,c,d,c for the quintet.

The Saraband Sonnet

Inspired by the musical dance of the same name, the Saraband has alternating stanzas of 3 and 4 lines. It is usually composed in tetrameter (8 syllables). In the rhyme scheme that follows 'x' denotes a line that does not rhyme with any other line: a,x,a, b,c,b,c, d,d,d, e,f,e,f.

It's only fiction so don't get on my case....lol

The Rubaiyat Sonnet

Once again, a hybrid of two forms. The Rubaiyat lends itself easily into a Sonnet by its linking of rhymes. Composed of three quatrains and a couplet, the 3rd line of each stanza becomes the rhyme for the 1st, 2nd, & 4th line for the following stanza. The concluding couplet simply follows the rhyme of the 3rd line of the 3rd quatrain. No volta is usually present, but the force of the concluding couplet lends itself easily into a summation of the whole. The rhyme scheme is a,a,b,a, b,b,c,b, c,c,d,c, d,d.

The Blank Verse Sonnet

This variation has no rhyme scheme at all, but is one of the few variations that has a definite metrical scheme. The lines are all written in iambic pentameter (ie Blank Verse). The volta is optional, and can be placed anywhere.

The Rosarian Sonnet

This variation abandons the tradtional octave/sestet division in place of two quintains (5-line stanza) and a concluding quatrain. The two quintains are linked by a middle rhyme, a,a,b,c,c, d,d,b,e,e. As with the Italian Sonnet, there are multiple choices for the rhyme scheme of the final stanza, ie f,g,f,g, or f,g,g,f.