There are 4 sections in a Shakespearean sonnet. The poems can be divided into three stanzas (like a paragraph for poetry)of four lines each and then one rhyming couplet (two lines that rhyme with each other) at the end. The first three stanzas build on a theme, idea, or metaphor and then the last two lines will usually provide some sort of shift. This sets them apart from the rest of the poem thematically, while somehow giving the reader something to think about or a lesson to learn.