Sonnet is a lyrical form of poet.
Petrarch sonnet's mode consists of an octane and a sestet. The model was transformed when it entered the British scene to adapt the English language and British rhythm.
The progressive transformation is due to:
1. Sir Thomas Wyatt who manly translate Italian sonnets from Italian in English.
2. Henry Howard, earl of Surrey, who first reorganize the structure of Petrarch model into the typical structure of the Elizabethan sonnets consisting of free quatrains and a couplet. Surrey's contribution to the sonnet is both thematically and structure. In a few words he tailored the needs of the English language.
But the most creative and innovative sonneteer was Shakespeare. He was able to reshape the typical conventions of the sonnets (courtly love poetry) to creative something of new.
The sonnet consists of fourteen line. In Petrarch sonnets the reader can recognize the typical structure of Italian sonnets.