What makes a petrarchan sonnet

Conceit : an elaborate and surprising comparison between two apparently dissimilar things. A simile makes the comparison in a less direct manner, using "like" or "as. Personification : an attribution of human qualities to an idea, an inanimate object, or an animal. Eliot, Little Gidding.

Characteristics of the Petrarchan Sonnet. Between the octave and the sestet, a Petrarchan sonnet usually shifts its tone or focus. This change is called the "volta," or "turn.

The sestet then praises the poet John Milton for his possession of the supposedly lost qualities of the English. According to Sonnet Central, the volta may be the single most important feature of the sonnet.

Love is the most common subject of Petrarchan sonnets, but these poems may also heap blame or scorn on a person, according to Dallas Baptist University. Whether the poem centers on love or blame, it typically makes an elaborate and lengthy comparison between a person and an thing or idea. For example, Charles Tennyson Turner's poem "Missing the Meteor" compares a lover to a shooting star. Sonnets thus rely heavily on the literary devices of metaphor and simile.

Another common trope is personification, the ascription of human qualities to objects or ideas. Nick Robinson is a writer, instructor and graduate student. For example, the extended metaphor of love as a battle is an example of conceit. Poets also often employ personification in these sonnets, which is the attribution of human qualities to something non-human. If you want to compose a Petrarchan sonnet, first make sure you are familiar with iambic pentameter.

Next, let the structure of the sonnet function as an outline. Start with your subject and the tension and don't write the turn until you get to the end of the sonnet. The turn comes naturally to many poets, according to the University of Northern Iowa, especially after you have built up the tension in the rest of the poem.

Sonnets are often written about love, but they can be written on any topic. If you have more to say than you can fit in one sonnet, consider writing a series of sonnets, as many poets did. Rebekah Richards is a professional writer with work published in the "Atlanta Journal-Constitution," "Brandeis University Law Journal" and online at tolerance.