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Explore the Craft of Writing Poetry The Sonnet Sonnet Comparison Chart Curtal or Curtailed Sonnet is a Petrarchan Sonnet which is proportionately ¾ in size. It is a 19th century innovation by English poet Gerard Anthony Hopkins who prefaced his publication Poems (1918) with an explanation of the verse form which he used in 3 of his sonnets. The elements of the Curtal sonnet is: 11 lines, proportionately ¾ of a Petrarchan Sonnet structure, a sixain followed by a quatrain followed by a tail or half line. metered, L1-L10 iambic pentameter , L11 is trimeter. rhymed, rhyme scheme abcabc defde. Peace by Gerard Manley Hopkins Curtal Sonnet by Judi Van Gorder For centuries the sonnet held esteem with praise for Laura, Juliette and more, the lute has even taken up its place. Without effort rising up like cream the little song can touch us at the core with oven birds and stars that race. This shortened form has little time to waste with condensed rhyme and shorter line to finish off the tome without refrain. And so, I try to write this poem in haste and hope to make it shine.