Sonnet, Later
A poem
composed of 14 lines.
[Reads
dictionary explanation, yawns: not fully attentive]
The
English convention is 10 syllables for each of these, and a choice of styles:
Petrarchan, Shakespearian or Miltonic being our main three. They differ in
rhyme scheme and pacings of octaves (first eight lines) and sestets (last six
lines, aka sextets.) And it should be Iambic (the rhythm that runs soft LOUD
soft LOUD.)
[Nods
head absentmindedly: facts are read with some recall, except:]
'Why
these particular numbers?'
[Scratches
head to denote thought]
They
are pleasantly even
They
fit musical forms (sonnet from the Italian, 'little song')
They
are long enough to set up and answer a question or two, not so long the reader
loses track/interest
Long
enough to play with form and make different styles from one format: a sort of
literary franchise?
It
proved popular, so writers kept at it
The
Shakespearian form breaks mostly into 3 quatrains (4 line stanzas) followed by
1 couplet (2 lines). The first 3 quatrains set up a surprise in the final two
lines.
[Considers
writing in this format. Pictures how the current pile of projects is stacking
up]
'UnwielDY?
Is that Iambic?'
[Sighs. Eats a sandwich]
Like a sine wave?
ReplyDeleteGreat pic, btw. (Of you, not Will. Though he's nice, too.)
ReplyDeleteIambic pentameter was the only thing I could get when I studied English Lit hundreds of years ago. The sonnets confused me back then, but then I was an arrogant youth who was so uncouth. Now that I'm wiser (ha!) I ought to read a sonnet or two and see if a lightbulb will go off over my head. :-)
ReplyDeleteThe View from the Top of the Ladder
Thanks Suze, it is a nice picture of a fairly contented weariness (me, not WS, he has a faraway thoughtful pose.) Sine wave is a good analogy- although just to be awkward I practice 'original style' TKD which doesn't explicitly teach sine wave: there's a natural drop and fall in a lot of techniques though. Overall the power and the flow of any good martial art is worth replicating in print :-) One day if I'm travelling your way then I'll teach you some of mine- that would be splendid fun :-)
ReplyDeleteSu-sieee! I fell in love with sonnets as an arrogant youth but the romance was more important than the discipline to me then. Now I marvel at the command of language just as much as I sigh- I love dear old Shakespeare but actually Wordsworth is still favourite in the sonnet stakes. Worth a try :-)
I almost don't know what you are talking about. Yes, I know sonnets, but not much about their construction. I remember Iambic pentameter from school, but that's about it.
ReplyDelete