You can typically tell them apart by their rhyme scheme, but poets take fresh spins on the sonnet format all the time, bringing it further away from its original format. There are many variations from the original Italian sonnet, and each has its own rules.
“Sonnet” comes from the Italian word “sonetto,” which translates to “a little sound or song.” We’ll get into more details about this structure later on.
A sonnet is a poem that uses these elements: one stanza, fourteen lines, iambic pentameter, a set rhyme scheme.
