Poetic Form
Shakespearean Sonnet
Also called the English sonnet. Developed by Surrey and perfected by Shakespeare in his sequence of 154 sonnets (published 1609). The couplet typically summarises or subverts the foregoing argument.
Definition
A 14-line sonnet structured as three ABAB quatrains and a concluding rhyming couplet (ABAB CDCD EFEF GG).
Example
Sonnet 18: 'Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? / Thou art more lovely and more temperate…'