Poetic Form
Sonnet
From Italian sonetto: a little sound or song. The form originated in 13th-century Sicily; Petrarch established its themes and structure; the English sonnet developed independently through Surrey and Shakespeare.
Definition
A 14-line lyric poem, typically in iambic pentameter, with a structural turn (volta) and a prescribed rhyme scheme.
Example
Shakespeare, Sidney, Donne, Milton, Keats, Neruda, Berryman — the sonnet spans six centuries of mastery.