Sonnet is a type of poem consisting of one single fourteen-line stanza. It was perfected by

the Italian poet in the 13^th century and introduced into England in the early 16^th century.

    English sonnets, in terms of structure, largely fall into two classes: the Petrarchian or Italian form and the

Shakespearian or English form. The former divides its fourteen lines of iambic pentameters into two parts: one octet

and one sestet; while the latter consists of three quatrains and a final couplet. The three quatrains develop the poem’s

 subject consistently and the couplet condenses the emotion into an epigram.

     十四行诗（又被译为商籁体 ）是格律诗的一种，因由14个诗行组成得名。也有人译其为“商赖体”。

这种诗律出现很早，经13世纪意大利诗人彼特拉克进一步完善后广为流行，后于16世纪传入英国。十四行诗

可分为两种：一种为彼特拉克体，或称意大利体；另一种为莎士比亚体，或称英国体。前者由一个八行诗节

和一个六行诗节构成；后者由三个四行诗节和一个双行诗节构成。前三个诗节多为情节的发展，渲染，

和刻画，末一个诗节则对前文作总结式的归纳，往往笔锋一转，得出让人过目难忘的名言警句来。

1.       Sonnet: 十四行诗A lyric poem comprising 14 rhyming lines of equal length: iambic pentameters in English, alexandrines in French, hendecasyllables in Italian. The rhyme schemes of the sonnet follow two basic patterns.

A.     The Italian sonnet 彼特拉克体(also called Petrarchan sonnet after the most influential of the Italian sonneteers) comprises an 8-line octave of two quatrains, rhymed abbaabba, followed by a 6-line sestet usually rhymed cdecde or cdcdcd. The transition from octave to sestet usually coincides with a turn in the argument or mood of the poem. In a variant form used by the English poet John Milton, however, the turn is delayed later to a position around the tenth line. Some later poets-----notably William Wordsworth----have employed this feature of “Miltonic sonnet” while relaxing the scheme of the octave to abbaacca.

Ozymandias                         奥西曼提斯

     P. S. Shelley                               雪莱

I met a traveler from an antique land                 客自海外归，曾见沙漠古国

Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone        有石像半毁，惟余巨腿

Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand,          蹲立沙砾间。像头旁落，

Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,      半遭沙埋，但人面依然可畏，

And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,          那冷笑，那发号施令的高傲，

Tell that its sculptor well those passions read       足见雕匠看透了主人的心，

Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things, 才把那石头刻得神情唯肖，

The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed:    而刻像的手和像主的心

And on the pedestal these words appear:                早成灰烬。像座上大字在目：

“My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:                “吾乃万王之王也，

Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!”           盖世功业，敢叫天公折服！”

Nothing beside remains. Round the decay               此外无一物，但见废墟周围，

Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare            寂寞平沙空莽莽，

The lone and level sands stretch far away.            伸向荒凉的四方。

                                                                           -----王佐良 译

B.      The English sonnet莎士比亚体 ( also called Shakespearean sonnet after its foremost practitioner)comprises three quatrain and a final couplet., rhyming abab cdcd efef gg. An important variant of this is the Spenserian sonnet, which links the three quatrains by rhyme, in the sequence abab babc cdcdee. In either form, the turn comes with the final couplet, which may sometimes achieve the neatness of an epigram.

Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer’s Day      我怎么能把你比作夏天

（十四行诗 １８）

Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?               我怎么能把你比作夏天？

Thou art more lovely and more temperate.               你比它更可爱也更温和：

Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,          五月狂风会将娇蕾作践，

And summer’s lease hath all too short a date:          夏季时光短促，恍如逝波：

Sometimes too hot the eye of heaven shines,            有时烈日当空，未免太热，

And often is his gold complexion dimmed;               它的金色面容，又常阴暗；

And every fair from fair sometimes declines,           人、物虽差，总难永葆丽色——

By chance, or nature’s changing course, untrimmed:    常受机运、时序的摧残！

But thy eternal summer shall not fade,                 你的永恒夏天却总无恙，

Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest;           不会失去你原有的风韵；

Nor shall Death brag thou wanderest in his shade       死神无法夸口，说你投降，

When in eternal lines to time thou growest.            你在不朽的诗句中永存：

So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,        只要人能呼吸，双目尚明，

So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.   这诗就流传，并给你生命！

我是否可以把你比喻成夏天？

虽然你比夏天更可爱更温和：
狂风会使五月娇蕾红消香断，
夏天拥有的时日也转瞬既过；
有时天空之巨眼目光太炽热，
它金灿灿的面色也常被遮暗；
而千芳万艳都终将凋零飘迫，
被时运天道之更替剥尽红颜；
但你永恒的夏天将没有止尽，
你所拥有的美貌也不会消失，
死神终难夸口你游荡于死荫，
当你在不朽的诗中永葆盛时：
只要有人类生存，或人有眼睛，
我的诗就会流传并赋予你生命。

                          (曹明伦 译)