How many lines are there in a sonnet?
by 
Becool1935
ANSWERS: 4
-
A sonnet is a 14-line poem.
-
14 its like a little song!
-
14 lines, and every group of two rhymes (they're called couplets.)
-
Interesting question because it's not always 14... Sonnets generally (though not always) have a set number of syllables per line. Most of Shakespeare's (all but one, I think) were in "iambic pentameter" which means there are 10 syllables per line. So imagine a poet wants to write a sonnet, and halfway though a 10 syllable line they want to split the thought or argument - this can be shown by starting the next part on a new line, but starting underneath the end of the previous. Yeah? That means the split line counts as two lines, giving you 15. Convoluted explanation I know! Here are two examples by EE Cummings: http://www.cs.rice.edu/~ssiyer/minstrels/poems/57.html http://www.geocities.com/soho/8454/766.htm And to clarify a comment elsewhere - sonnets can rhyme in lots of different ways, not necessarily in couplets. Some don't even rhyme at all.
RELATED QUESTIONS
Copyright 2023, Wired Ivy, LLC