Poems, Epigrams and Sonnets By R. E. Egerton-Warburton |
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“IL SONNETTO.” |
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 | Poems, Epigrams and Sonnets |  |
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“IL SONNETTO.”
He who constructs a sonnet must confineThe metre strictly to its rule of rhyme;
Throughout the quatrains, in well-order'd time,
Two rhymes alone their harmony combine;
These in two ways the verse may entertwine—
(Such the fix'd rule in that Italian clime
Whence sprung the sonnet)—two alternate chime—
Or two responsive close each central line.
Where end the quatrains pause, and pause again
Between each triplet—here as pleaseth best
Two rhymes suffice—or rang'd in sequence, three.
Through the last six still let thy cautious pen
Avoid a couplet, or, these rules transgress'd
Thy fourteen lines will no true sonnet be.
| Poems, Epigrams and Sonnets | |