Sonnet
A fourteen-line poem, usually in iambic pentameter, following a set rhyme scheme.
The sonnet packs an argument or emotional arc into fourteen lines, often turning on a pivot near the end called the volta. Writers use its tight form to concentrate feeling and to play tension between rule and expression. Its two famous shapes are the Italian (Petrarchan) and the English (Shakespearean).
Example
The poem spends its lines mocking clichéd praise, then turns in the final couplet to declare a truer love—the sonnet’s built-in twist.
Sonnet 130 (“My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun”) · William Shakespeare
See it in action
Analyses on StoryBites that use sonnet: