A sestet is six lines of

poetry Poetry (derived from the Greek '' poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meani ...

forming a

stanza In poetry, a stanza (; from Italian ''stanza'' , "room") is a group of lines within a poem, usually set off from others by a blank line or indentation. Stanzas can have regular rhyme and metrical schemes, but they are not required to have ei ...

or complete poem. A sestet is also the name given to the second division of an Italian

sonnet A sonnet is a poetic form that originated in the poetry composed at the Court of the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II in the Sicilian city of Palermo. The 13th-century poet and notary Giacomo da Lentini is credited with the sonnet's inventio ...

(as opposed to an English or Spenserian Sonnet), which must consist of an

octave In music, an octave ( la, octavus: eighth) or perfect octave (sometimes called the diapason) is the interval between one musical pitch and another with double its frequency. The octave relationship is a natural phenomenon that has been refer ...

, of eight lines, succeeded by a sestet, of six lines. The etymology of the word can be traced to the Italian word ''sestetto'', meaning “sixth”. The origin of the sonnet form has been traced to poems by Giacomo di Lentino in

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

. The original sonnet form is the Sicilian Sonnet (also in octave and sestet) rhyming ABABABAB CDECDE or CDCDCD. It is generally believed that the first eight lines derive from the Sicilian form of the ''Stramboto''. The first recognized and documented user of this poetical form was the Italian poet

Petrarch Francesco Petrarca (; 20 July 1304 – 18/19 July 1374), commonly anglicized as Petrarch (), was a scholar and poet of early Renaissance Italy, and one of the earliest humanists. Petrarch's rediscovery of Cicero's letters is often credited ...

. In the usual course the rhymes are arranged ABCABC, but this is not necessary. Early Italian sonnets, and in particular those of

Dante Dante Alighieri (; – 14 September 1321), probably baptized Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri and often referred to as Dante (, ), was an Italian poet, writer and philosopher. His ''Divine Comedy'', originally called (modern Italian: ' ...

, often close with the rhyme arrangement ABCCBA, but in languages where the sonority of syllables is not so great as it is in Italian, it is incorrect to leave a period of five lines between one rhyme and another. In the

quatorzain A quatorzain (from Italian ''quattordici'' or French ''quatorze'', fourteen) is a poem of fourteen lines. Historically the term has often been used interchangeably with the term " sonnet". Various writers have tried to draw distinctions betwee ...

, there is, properly speaking, no sestet, but a quatrain followed by a couplet, as in the case of English sonnets. Another form of sestet has only two rhymes, ABABAB, as is the case in Gray's famous sonnet ''On the Death of Richard West''. The sestet marks the turn of emotion in the sonnet. As a rule, with the octave having been more or less objective, reflection should make its appearance in the sestet, with a tendency to the subjective manner. For example, in

Matthew Arnold Matthew Arnold (24 December 1822 – 15 April 1888) was an English poet and cultural critic who worked as an inspector of schools. He was the son of Thomas Arnold, the celebrated headmaster of Rugby School, and brother to both Tom Arnold, lit ...

's ''The Better Part'', the rough inquirer, who has had his own way in the octave, is replied to as soon as the sestet commences: :So answerest thou; but why not rather say: :"Hath man no second life? - Pitch this one high! :Sits there no judge in Heaven, our sin to see? - :More strictly, then, the inward judge obey! :Was Christ a man like us? Ah! let us try :If we then, too, can be such men as he!" Wordsworth and Milton are both remarkable for the dignity with which they conduct the downward wave of the sestet in their sonnet. The French sonneteers of the 16th century, with Ronsard at their head, preferred the softer sound of the arrangement AABCCB. The

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

poets have usually wavered between the English and the Italian forms.

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References

{{Poetic forms Poetic forms Sonnet studies