In poetry, a fourteen-line poem, often written about love, is called a sonnet.
The sonnet developed in 13th-century Sicily, where poets associated with the Sicilian School helped establish its compact form. The word comes through Italian sonetto, meaning “little sound” or “little song.” It later flourished in Italy through the work of Petrarch, whose poems about Laura shaped the influential Petrarchan sonnet.
Sonnets traditionally contain fourteen lines, but their internal structure varies. A Petrarchan sonnet commonly divides into an octave of eight lines and a sestet of six. An English or Shakespearean sonnet usually has three four-line quatrains followed by a two-line couplet, often using the rhyme scheme ABAB CDCD EFEF GG. Iambic pentameter is especially associated with the English form.
Love is the most familiar subject, but sonnets also explore mortality, politics, religion, nature, and art. A common mix-up is assuming every sonnet must rhyme identically or discuss romance; modern poets have written unrhymed and nontraditional sonnets on almost any theme.