The quatrains use this rhyme scheme: ABAB CDCD EFEF followed by the couplet: GG.Īnd Shakespeare used this form for every single one of his 154 sonnets!īut Shakespeare’s sonnets are not the only kind. Here the poem usually shifts mood or focus.įor his sonnets, Shakespeare used a strict rhyme scheme of three rhyming stanzas of four lines, known as quatrains, and then one rhyming stanza of two lines, known as a couplet. There is usually a turning point at line eight, called a volta. 'Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?' asks Shakespeare.Ī sonnet is usually based on just one idea, so he compares someone to a summer’s day for the full 14 lines. This one might be his most famous: Sonnet 18. Sonnets are a form of poem that was much loved by William Shakespeare.
