[diiq]

Both forms are pretty strict, but yeah, the French gets a little less leeway. He is respecting the English rules, while using some chic slant rhymes. I know English is abab cdcd efef gg --- am I right in remembering French as abba abba cc dccd?

[p4bl0]

French sonnets must recpect the following two rules:

- rhymes are abba abba ccd eed

- lines must be Alexandrine

This last rules implies a lot of things :

- each lines must be exactly 12 syllabes

- the caesura (either between the sixth and seventh syllabes (for two hemistiches lines), or between the forth and fifth and between the eighth and nineth (for three parts lines)) must respect a lot of rules which makes it pleasant to read (for instance, the syllabe just before it cannot be feminine (roughly, it means it should not end with a 'e', but it's a lot more complex than that))

- rhyme genre must alternate (either a and d and feminine and b, c and e are masculine or the reverse)

- maybe some other nasty things I don't recall right now.

[diiq]

Thanks for setting me straight! Where did you learn these rules? I went hunting and couldn't find much --- not even agreement on the rhymes for the quatrain (which you imply isn't a quatrain at all?).

[p4bl0]

The end can be in 'cc deed' but it is quite uncommon. Usually, the first two strophes (does that word exists in english?) are quatrains and the two other are tercets.

I learned some of that in middleschol or highschool (in France) and for a few details by reading the french Wikipedia. But more importantly I have a friend who is very knowledgeable on this kind of subjects (a3_nm here on HN), which is really cool.