Caudate sonnet Caudate sonnet A caudate sonnet is an expanded version of the sonnet. It consists of 14 lines in standard sonnet forms followed by a coda (Latin "cauda" meaning "tail", from which the name is derived). The invention of the form is credited to Francesco Berni. According to the "Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry," the form is most frequently used for satire, such as the most prominent English instance, John Milton's "On the New Forcers of Conscience Under the Long Parliament." Gerard Manley Hopkins used the form in a less satirical mood in his "That Nature is a Heraclitean Fire." The poem
Sonnet 29 Shakespeare's other sonnets. The first unique characteristic is the lack of a "when/then" pattern. Traditionally, the first eight lines of a sonnet produce a problem (a "when" statement) that is then resolved in the last six lines (a "then" statement). McRae points out, however, that the Speaker in this sonnet fails to produce a solution possibly because his overwhelming lack of self-worth prevents him from ever being able to state an actual argument, and instead uses his conclusion to contrast the negative feelings stated in the previous octave. McRae notes that this break from the traditional style of sonnet writing