Which poetic forms flourished during the Elizabethan age?

During the Elizabethan age, English poetry experienced a period of remarkable growth and innovation, largely driven by the adaptation of Continental, particularly Italian, literary forms. Key poetic forms that flourished during this era include:12

• The Sonnet: Introduced to England in the 16th century, the sonnet reached its peak of popularity during the Elizabethan period. Poets adapted the Italian Petrarchan sonnet to create the English (or Shakespearean) sonnet, which consists of three quatrains and a final rhymed couplet. Notable sequences include works by Sir Philip Sidney, Edmund Spenser, and William Shakespeare.3
• Blank Verse: This form of unrhymed iambic pentameter became the preeminent medium for English drama. It was developed into a powerful instrument for emotional expression by playwrights such as Christopher Marlowe and later perfected by Shakespeare.4
• Lyric Poetry: Elizabethan poets frequently practiced the lyric, often influenced by the richness of contemporary music, including lute songs and Italianate madrigals. These poems were often public pieces intended for singing, characterized by a consciously ordered artifice.5
• Spenserian Stanza: Invented by Edmund Spenser for his epic The Faerie Queene, this form consists of eight lines of iambic pentameter followed by a ninth line of six iambic feet (an alexandrine).6