sestet

American  

[se-stet, ses-tet] / sɛˈstɛt, ˈsɛs tɛt /

noun

1. Prosody. the last six lines of a sonnet in the Italian form, considered as a unit.

2. sextet.

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sestet British  

/ sɛˈstɛt /

noun

1. prosody the last six lines of a Petrarchan sonnet

2. prosody any six-line stanza

3. another word for sextet

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Etymology

Origin of sestet

1795–1805; < Italian sestetto sextet, equivalent to sest ( o ) (< Latin sextus sixth ) + -etto -et

Explanation

The noun sestet means the six final lines of a sonnet, or another group of six lines of poetry. You might discuss a sestet during a college literature class. Use sestet to talk about very specific lines of verse, the last six in a sonnet. It's most common to find a sestet in Italian sonnets, such as those written by Petrarch and Dante. In English poetry, it's more usual to see a couplet — two lines of verse — at the end of a sonnet. The noun sestet occasionally fills in for the word sextet, or group of six things. The Latin root is sextus, or "sixth."

Example Sentences

Polyptoton, the device which repeats the same word in a different grammatical case, continues to enliven the emotional interplay in the sestet.

From The Guardian • May 20, 2013

This sestet is sharpened by Robert's characteristic division of the six lines into two separate triplets, a structure favoured by Philip Sidney in Astrophil and Stella.

From The Guardian • May 20, 2013

The sestet begins by envisioning the time "When it is peace".

From The Guardian • Nov. 14, 2012

The beautiful, peace-making sestet divides its lines equally between man and fish, man aspiring heavenward toward the angelic, the fish sweet and silver, perfectly fitted to its realm, quick with fear.

From Slate • Mar. 13, 2012

How strikingly the sound of "old," in the octave contrasts with that of "ing," and how strikingly in the sestet "ove" contrasts with "ire."

From The Circus, and Other Essays and Fugitive Pieces by Kilmer, Joyce