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A sonnet is a form of a poem that originated in Europe, mainly Italy: the Sicilian poet Giacomo da Lentini is credited with its invention.

They commonly contain 14 lines.

The term " sonnet " derives only from the Occitan word sonet and the Italian word sonetto, both meaning " little song " or " little sound ".

By the thirteenth century, it signified a poem of fourteen lines that follows a strict rhyme scheme and specific structure.

Conventions associated with the sonnet have evolved over its history.

Writers of sonnets are sometimes called " sonneteers ," although the term can be used derisively.

One of the best-known sonnet writers is William Shakespeare, who wrote 154 of them ( not including those that appear in his plays ).

A Shakespearean, or English, sonnet consists of 14 lines, each line containing ten syllables and written in iambic pentameter, in which a pattern of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable is repeated five times.

The rhyme scheme in a Shakespearean sonnet is a-b-a-b, c-d-c-d, e-f-e-f, g-g ; the last two lines are a rhyming couplet.