What Is Sonnet? Poem by Rajendra Prasad Meena Jaipur India

This is an example of sonnet. Rhyme Scheme: ABAB CDCD EFEF GG. Meter: Iambic Pentameter (five soft-strong beats per line) Volta: Line 9 ("Yet words can keep a beauty living on") Quatrains & Couplet: Quatrain 1 (lines 1-4) : Beauty and hope Quatrain 2 (lines 5-8) : Time and decay Quatrain 3 (lines 9-12) : Poetry preserves Couplet (lines 13-14) : Final affirmation. Major Features Iambic Pentameter: Each line has five beats in a soft-strong pattern. Example: "When MOR | ning LIFTS | its SOFT | and GOL | den LIGHT" Volta (Turn) : Line 9 changes the idea from time destroys → poetry preserves. Theme: Time, beauty, youth, memory, and love. Figures of Speech: Personification: "morning lifts" Metaphor: "steals the bloom" (bloom = youth) Imagery: "soft and golden light" Symbolism: morning = life, words = immortality Contrast: time destroys / words preserve Alliteration: "living light" Hyperbole: "soul is never gone" Sonnet Tradition and Types Petrarchan (Italian) : octave + sestet, ABBAABBA + CDECDE, volta line 9 Shakespearean (English) : 4+4+4+2, ABAB CDCD EFEF GG, final couplet Spenserian: 4+4+4+2, interlocking rhyme ABAB BCBC CDCD EE Miltonic: Petrarchan derived, continuous argument, delayed volta, serious themes Romantic Sonnet: Nature imagery, emotion + philosophy, beauty & transience Modern Sonnet: Flexible meter, looser rhyme, psychological theme, memory & loss This poem is a Shakespearean-Romantic hybrid: Form → Shakespearean Imagery → Romantic Theme → Classical Sonnet Tradition Tone → Modern reflective Final Academic Identification 14 lines ✔ Iambic pentameter ✔ Shakespearean rhyme ✔ Volta at line 9 ✔ Summarizing couplet ✔ Explores time, beauty, and memory ✔ Conclusion: Sonnets compress philosophical reflection into a musical, symmetrical structure. This poem demonstrates that life fades, but words preserve presence, continuing the long global sonnet tradition.