The Caudate Sonnet is a form that was created by yet another Italian poet, Francesco Berni. Unlike traditional sonnets, which consist of 14 lines, this form has 17 lines. It follows the same rhyme scheme and structure as a Petrarchan sonnet, with the addition of a half line and a heroic couplet. Due to the extra lines at the end, this form is sometimes called a “Tailed Sonnet”.
Structure:
An octave, a sestet, a half line, a heroic couplet
Rhyme Scheme:
abbaabba cdcdcd dee
Template :
(a)
(b)
(b)
(a)
(a)
(b)
(b)
(a)
(c)
(d)
(c)
(d)
(c)
(d)
(d)
(e)
(e)
Example:
Tartuffe and Feather
Compendiums of idioms take flight
as pendulums of writers swing away
They take a stab at cutting words, "Touché"
How avant-garde this language that they write.
The brightest minds will never find the light
by throwing shade at novices dismay.
The covert hurt on canvas can't convey
the spirit that we spearhead through our spite
And yet regret is furthest from my mind
the egret round my neck is close enough
for meanings you bestow are ill defined
you wax on wicked wicks you can't rebuff
the fruits of solving riddle's in the rind
the hands of time still tick despite the cuff
All writers are Tartuffe
so drip hot tar upon my fleshy back
to prime my feather plume for its attack
Antonio Eramo
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