Generally speaking, poetry has no rules: you can use punctuation, rhyme, format, grammar and everything else at will. But some types of poetry have rules. For example, Haiku is traditionally a three-line poem. The first and third lines contain five syllables, and the second line contains seven syllables.
Sonnet is just another kind of poem, just like apple is a kind of fruit. Just like apples have different varieties-crisp apples, grandma Smith and so on. There are also different kinds of sonnets, each with its own characteristics.
However, all these must have 14 lines and a rhyme scheme. How these lines are broken down (and which rhymes) depends on the type of sonnets.
Types of sonnets
Petrarch's sonnets-named after the Italian poet Petrarch in the 4th century A.D./Kloc-and he is famous for his writing-contain an eight-line stanza called "octave", followed by a six-line stanza called "Ceste". The rhyme scheme of octave is ABBAABBA, while the rhyme scheme of sestet is CDECDE or CDCCDC. Elizabeth Barrett Browning's How I Love You? "(the beginning is" how do I love you? Let me count ") is a good example of Peterak's sonnets.
Another major variation of sonnets is Shakespeare's sonnets, whose name hardly needs introduction. Shakespeare divided his sonnets into three sections (sonnets) and two lines at the end of a section (couplets). He also changed the rhyme scheme: ababccdcdefefgg. Sonnet 130 begins with "My hostess's eyes are not like the sun", which is one of the most symbolic contributions of the bard to this form.
Just like that poem and Browning's "How do I love you?" As mentioned earlier, sonnets are usually love poems written in iambic pentameter. But many poets deviated from these norms and broke other structural rules formulated by Petrarch and Shakespeare. First of all, the reason why we have Shakespeare's sonnets is entirely because Shakespeare decided to break Petrarch's rules.
For example, john milton kept Petrarch's rhyme scheme, but did not divide his 14 line into two paragraphs; He is also famous for avoiding love and favoring politics and existentialism. Milton's works are so influential that we now call similar sonnets "Milton's sonnets". Edmund spenser's sonnets are very eye-catching and deserve to have their own subcategories. Spencer's sonnets follow Shakespeare's stanza structure, but there is a more cohesive rhyme scheme: Ababou BCBC CDCD EE.
In short, the sonnet is a poem with 14 lines, which has a set of fixed rules, involving stanzas and rhyme schemes. But since poetry is experiment and self-expression, please take a page from Shakespeare's book at will and make your own rules.