Home › Glossary › Letter N

Negative 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 sonnet whose thematic and syntactic structure is built entirely on negations, denials, or refusals, often subverting traditional sonnet conventions.

Detailed Definition
Negative sonnet subverts traditional sonnet conventions by inverting its typical arc of resolution or affirmation; instead, it culminates in doubt, despair, or open-ended questioning, using the form’s constraints to amplify existential or emotional negation.
Example
Example in poetry:
Negative sonnet inverts traditional sonnet themes, e.g., rejecting love: "Not for your eyes, nor lips, nor tender vow— / my heart beats free, unchained, and will not bow."
Additional Notes
Negative sonnet employs negation as organizing principle throughout 14 lines. Can use anaphora of negative words or explore absence. Related to negative capability. Creates meditation on loss, impossibility, or what-is-not.
Also Known As
Denial sonnet Negating fourteen-liner No-saying love poem Refusing sonnet
Skip to main content