Home › Glossary › Letter C

Curtal sonnet

Form
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

Want to hear it? Click the Listen button to hear the browser speak the word using text-to-speech!

The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

A shortened sonnet form invented by Gerard Manley Hopkins, comprising ten full lines and a half-line coda.

Detailed Definition
A curtal sonnet is a compressed sonnet form invented by Gerard Manley Hopkins, comprising ten-and-a-half lines (roughly three-quarters of a Petrarchan sonnet) with a proportionally reduced volta and sestet, designed to retain structural integrity while achieving radical concision.
Example
Example in poetry:
Curtal sonnet: Gerard Manley Hopkins’ "Pied Beauty"—10.5 lines instead of 14; compressed volta and resolution; "Glory be to God for dappled things—" (truncated praise); modern example: 11-line sonnet with halved sestet; structural innovation reflecting spiritual compression
Additional Notes
Curtal sonnet abbreviates standard sonnet proportionally (10.5 lines vs. 14). Invented by Hopkins. Structure: 6-line octave, 4.5-line sestet. Maintains sonnet's essential proportions while compressing—challenging but elegant form.
Also Known As
Shortened sonnet Hopkins sonnet curtailed sonnet 10½-line sonnet Half-tail sonnet
Skip to main content