made up of fourteen lines in three quatrains and a couplet, with the rhyme scheme ABAB CDCD EFEF GG. While using the rhyming and metrical structure of the 'English' or 'Surreyan' sonnet, Shakespeare often also reflected the rhetorical form of the Italian form also known as the Petrarchan sonnet. It divides the sonnet into two parts: the octet (the first eight lines) usually states and develops the subject, while the sestet (the last six lines) winds up to a climax. Thus a change in emphasis, known as the volta, occurs between the end of the eighth and the beginning of the ninth lines — between the octet and sestet. A strong pause at the close of each quatrain is usual for Shakespeare. While he suggests Petrarchan form by placing the chief pause after the eighth line in about 27 or so of the sonnets, in over two thirds of his sonnets he places the chief pause after the twelfth line instead. Iambic pentameter is used in almost all the sonnets, as it is here. This is a metre based on five pairs of metrically weak/strong syllabic positions. Occurring after much metrical tension throughout the quatrains, the couplet exhibits a quite regular iambic pentameter pattern: × / × / × / × / × / But if the while I think on thee, dear friend, × / × / × / × / × / All losses are restored and sorrows end. (30.13-14) / = ictus, a metrically strong syllabic position. × = nonictus. The first line is a frequent target for metrists, possibly because of the ease with which the initial triple rhythm can be carried right through the line, producing this unmetrical reading: / × × / × × / × × / When to the sessions of sweet silent thought (30.1) Differences in scansion, however, tend to be conditioned more by metrists' theoretical preconceptions than by differences in how they hear the line. Most interpretations start with the assumption that the syllables in the sequence "-ions of sweet si-" increase in stress or emphasis thus: 1 2 3 4 When to the sessions of sweet silent thought 1 = least stress or emphasis, and 4 = most. Metrists who are most committed to the concept of metrical feet (for example Yvor Winters, W. K. Wimsatt, and Susanne Woods ) tend to find a "light" iamb followed by a