Which form is the sonnet described as being written in?

• A. English form
• B. Italian form
• C. Spencerian form
• D. Petrarchan form

Answer: (A)

This is describing an English (Shakespearean) sonnet. The telltale sign is the pattern of 14 lines organized into three quatrains followed by a concluding couplet, all in a regular meter, typically iambic pentameter. This structure often develops a theme or idea across the three quatrains and then delivers a punch, twist, or resolution in the final two lines. The rhyme scheme that fits this form is ABAB CDCD EFEF GG, which gives that familiar flow you hear in many well-known sonnets.

The Italian form, by contrast, divides the poem into an octave and a sestet with a different rhyme pattern and typically a shift or volta between the two parts, not a final couplet. A Spencerian approach links rhymes in a chain across quatrains in a slightly different way. So the description pointing to a setup of three development steps plus a closing couplet best aligns with the English form.