英国十四行诗有两种类型：意大利式(Petrarvhan)及莎士比业式(Shakesperoan)(英国式)。
A．意大利式十四行诗：模仿意大利诗人皮特拉克(Petrarch)所创的样式，由两部分组成：第一部分八行(TheOctave)，由的个四行诗体(Quatrains)组成，韵脚是abbaabba；第二部分六行(The Sestet)，韵脚可有不同形式。按严格的意大利十四行诗体，在前八行结尾诗意应告一段落，而后六行又转入新的诗意。
B．莎士比亚式十四行诗：由三个四行诗体组成，韵脚交替进行。最后是押韵的双行诗体。整个韵脚是ababcdcdefefgg。在莎士比亚式十四行诗中意境一气呵成，直到最后双行体，为全诗高潮。除莎士比亚外，其他诗人也采用此种形式。
例如:下面这首莎翁的诗的韵脚就是以ababcdcdefefgg这样来压韵的!
Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date:
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimmed,
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance, or nature's changing course untrimmed:
But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st,
Nor shall death brag thou wand'rest in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st,
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
