Italian sonnet

American  

noun

1. Petrarchan sonnet.

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Italian sonnet British  

noun

1. another term for Petrarchan sonnet

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Etymology

Origin of Italian sonnet

First recorded in 1875–80

Example Sentences

The delicate form of the Italian sonnet, as copied by Sidney from Bembo and Molza and Costanzo, contained within it the exotic and exquisite ideal passion of the "Vita Nuova" and Petrarch.

From Euphorion Being Studies of the Antique and the Mediaeval in the Renaissance - Vol. I by Lee, Vernon

Octave, a stanza of eight lines; especially the two quatrains of an Italian sonnet, 120.

From The Principles of English Versification by Baum, Paull Franklin

Thus an Italian sonnet of the strictest form is composed upon four rhymes, interlaced with great art.

From Sketches and Studies in Italy and Greece, Second Series by Brown, Horatio Robert Forbes

Some one urged in his presence the preference of hope to possession; and as I remember produced an Italian sonnet on the subject. 

From Anecdotes of the late Samuel Johnson by Morley, Henry

They depart from the Italian sonnet form in closing with a couplet, as is the case with most of the sonnets of Surrey and Wyat, but they have a grace and tenderness all their own.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 7, Slice 9 "Dagupan" to "David" by Various