Fiducia TogetherSonnet
Also called Shakespearean sonnet, Petrarchan sonnet
A fourteen-line poem in a fixed form, traditionally about love — which makes it loaded when it is not.
Please note: This page explains a word or a process in education. It is general information about the system, the law and the guidance in England — not advice about your child, your school or your exam. If a decision is going against you, get advice from one of the free services we link to before you agree to anything or miss a deadline. If you are revising, check your own exam board's specification: boards word things differently and yours is the one that marks you.
What it is
A sonnet has fourteen lines, usually in iambic pentameter. A Shakespearean sonnet runs three quatrains and a couplet, rhyming ABAB CDCD EFEF GG. A Petrarchan sonnet runs an octave and a sestet, with the volta between them.
Where it applies
Poetry anthologies and unseen poetry. Ozymandias is a sonnet, and an irregular one.
How it works
The form carries centuries of association with love and desire, so using it for something else — war, politics, a ruined statue — is itself a statement.
The closing couplet of a Shakespearean sonnet lands like a verdict, which is why so many of them turn there.
How to use it in your work
Identify the type and then ask whether the poet keeps the rules. Ozymandias uses a rhyme scheme that belongs to neither standard form, and in a poem about a collapsed empire a collapsing form is not an accident.
Comment on where the volta falls relative to where the form expects it.
Where to get help
Your teacher, and the unseen poetry song.
Revise this with a song
These are ours. We write revision songs because a lot of people remember a tune when they cannot remember a page, and because revising out loud in the kitchen beats staring at a highlighter.
- The Unseen Poetry Song How to read a poem you have never seen before, in an exam.
- Ozymandias Shelley's sonnet, line by line.
Where to read more
Last reviewed 2026-08-28 by Fiducia Together · Next review due 2027-08-28
Please note: This page explains a word or a process in education. It is general information about the system, the law and the guidance in England — not advice about your child, your school or your exam. If a decision is going against you, get advice from one of the free services we link to before you agree to anything or miss a deadline. If you are revising, check your own exam board's specification: boards word things differently and yours is the one that marks you.