AnswerBoth the Petrarchan and Shakespearean sonnets consist of fourteen lines and are written in iambic pentameter. This means that each line, generally speaking, will have five (penta-) feet, with each foot consisting of one unaccented syllable followed by one accented syllable: this means that each line will typically have ten syllables. The foot name is an iamb (this is where we get the word iambic), and each iamb has two syllables: one unaccented followed by one accented syllable.
The Petrarchan sonnet is divided into an eight line octave (rhyme scheme: abbaabba) followed by a six line sestet (with a rhyme scheme that is more open: cdcdcd, cdecde, cdeedc—really, any combination of "c"s and "d"s and maybe "e"s is acceptable). Then, there is usually some division of content between the octave and sestet. The octave might pose a question that the sestet answers. The octave might present a problem that the sestet solves. The octave could present an issue from one angle, and then the sestet takes a different angle on the issue.
The Shakespearean sonnet is divided into three four line groups called quatrains (rhyming ababcdcdefef), followed by a rhyming couplet. Each quatrain might present an example, and the couplet could present whatever ties the examples together. Each quatrain might ask a question with the couplet providing the one answer to them all. Generally, the couplet contains some key information that we need in order to understand the importance of the quatrains.:
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