Question

Compare the organisation of this sonnet with that of the sonnet by William Shakespeare.

Answer 1

Both sonnets have 14 lines. Wordsworth’s sonnet is arranged as an octave (8 lines) followed by a sestet (6 lines), with the rhyme scheme ABBAABBA CDCDCD. Shakespeare’s sonnet is usually organised into three quatrains (4 lines each) and a final rhyming couplet (2 lines), following the rhyme scheme ABAB CDCD EFEF GG.