What are the Main Similarities between Italian and English sonnet?

Answer 1

Their 14 lines. /

Answer 2

Italian Sonnet and English Sonnet are old-fashioned (and these days, thankfully rare) terms for the forms which are properly named Petrarchan Sonnet and Shakespearean Sonnet.

The primary similarity between Petrarchan and Shakespearean sonnets is that both forms have fourteen lines.

An important secondary similarity (in most cases) is that the natural line for a Sonnet will be the heroic line of its native culture (Iambic pentameter in English, Alexandrine in French, Hendecasyllable in Italian).

A few will argue that the shift in perspective (volta) between Octave and Sestet in the Petrarchan sonnet is an ancestor of the use of the closing couplet of the Shakespearean sonnet as an emblem (motto or summing up). This is a contentious point, and doesn't seem to fit the actual history of the species.

Answer 3

Almost all sonnets are 14 lines long; and almost all sonnets have through-rhyme (every line in the sonnet rhymes with at least one other line in the poem).

This is true for Petrarchan, Shakespearean, Spenserian, and Hybrid sonnets.

The number of exceptions to these two rules is trivially small (much less than 1% of all sonnets ever written). Sonnets which do not follow these fundamental rules are best left to discussion by dedicated poets or career academics.

Answer 4

Both Italian and English sonnets consist of 14 lines and follow a specific rhyme scheme. Italian (Petrarchan) sonnets have an octave followed by a sestet, while English (Shakespearean) sonnets have three quatrains and a final rhymed couplet. Both forms typically explore themes of love, nature, and mortality.