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Irregular sonnet

Form
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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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 sonnet that deviates from traditional structural, metrical, or rhyme conventions

Detailed Definition
An irregular sonnet adheres loosely to the sonnet’s 14-line framework but deviates in rhyme scheme, meter, or volta placement, allowing modern poets to harness the form’s gravitas while resisting its constraints; this flexibility supports contemporary themes that resist classical resolution.
Example
Example in poetry:
Gerard Manley Hopkins’ “Carrion Comfort” is an irregular sonnet with sprung rhythm and unconventional structure; Edna St. Vincent Millay’s “I will put Chaos into fourteen lines” is an irregular sonnet thematically and metrically; W.H. Auden’s “If I Could Tell You” uses irregular sonnet form with shifting rhyme; e.e. cummings’ sonnets often break traditional rules while retaining 14 lines.
Additional Notes
An irregular sonnet keeps 14 lines but breaks rules of meter, rhyme, or structure; used for expressive freedom or thematic disruption; Hopkins and cummings are key practitioners; still often retains volta or thematic unity.
Also Known As
Sonnet irregular Variant sonnet Nonstandard sonnet Free-form sonnet Discordant fourteen-liner Modified sonnet
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