Make sure you’ve read Petrarch’s Sonnets before beginning this journal, along with this excerpt from The Poetry Foundation:

A 14-line poem with a variable rhyme scheme originating in Italy and brought to England by Sir Thomas Wyatt "http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-poets/poets/detail/thomas-wyatt" and Henry Howard  "http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-poets/poets/detail/henry-howard", earl of Surrey (Links to an external site.) in the 16th century. Literally, a “little song,” the sonnet traditionally reflects upon a single sentiment, with a clarification or “turn” of thought in its concluding lines. There are many different types of sonnets.

The Petrarchan sonnet, perfected by the Italian poet Petrarch, divides the 14 lines into two sections: an eight-line stanza (octave) rhyming ABBAABBA, and a six-line stanza (sestet) rhyming CDCDCD or CDECDE. John Milton’s “When I Consider How my Light Is Spent”"http://www.poetryfoundation.org/archive/poem.html?id=174016"and Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s “How Do I Love Thee” (http://www.poetryfoundation.org/archive/poem.html?id=172998) employ this form. The Italian sonnetis an English variation on the traditional Petrarchan version. The octave’s rhyme scheme is preserved, but the sestet rhymes CDDCEE. See Thomas Wyatt’s “Whoso List to Hunt, I Know Where Is an Hind” (http://www.poetryfoundation.org/archive/poem.html?id=174862) and John Donne’s “If Poisonous Minerals, and If That Tree.” (http://www.poetryfoundation.org/archive/poem.html?id=173365) Wyatt and Surrey developed the English (or Shakespearean) sonnet, which condenses the 14 lines into one stanza of three quatrains (Links to an external site.) and a concluding couplet, with a rhyme scheme of ABABCDCDEFEFGG (though poets have frequently varied this scheme; see Wilfred Owen’s “Anthem for Doomed Youth” (Links to an external site.)). George Herbert’s “Love (II),” (Links to an external site.) Claude McKay’s “America,” (Links to an external site.) and Molly Peacock’s “Altruism” (Links to an external site.) are English sonnets.

Examples of a Petrarchan sonnet[edit]

William Wordsworth’s "London, 1802"

Octave –

Milton! thou shouldst be living at this hour:		A
England hath need of thee: she is a fen		B
Of stagnant waters: altar, sword, and pen,		B
Fireside, the heroic wealth of hall and bower,		A
Have forfeited their ancient English dower		A
Of inward happiness. We are selfish men;		B
Oh! raise us up, return to us again;		B
And give us manners, virtue, freedom, power.		A

Sestet –

Thy soul was like a Star, and dwelt apart;		C
Thou hadst a voice whose sound was like the sea:		D
Pure as the naked heavens, majestic, free,		D
So didst thou travel on life’s common way,		E
In cheerful godliness; and yet thy heart		C
The lowliest duties on herself did lay.		E

Emma Lazarus’s "The New Colossus"

Lazarus’s poem uses one of the oldest and most traditional patterns for the sestet.

Octave-

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,		A
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;		B
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand		B
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame		A
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name		A
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand		B
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command		B
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.		A

Sestet –

"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she		C
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,		D
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,		C
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.		D
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,		C
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"		D