Subject: RE: BS: In every thread someone has to be last!
From:
beardedbruce
Date: 24 Aug 04 - 10:40 AM
Well, since out of the goodness of my heart I had earlier decided not to post more than one of my sonnets here each day, I am now reduced to just muttering under my breath...
Since there are those posting here who seem to have no knowledge of what a sonnet IS, I feel it is my royal duty, as king of Great Britain, (per Giok) to enlighten them.
A sonnet, from the Italian for "little song", is a short lyrical poem, always rhymed. It must have a regular scansion, and a structured rhyme scheme. Originally, they were from 10 to 18 lines long, but since the mid 15th century the "standard" length has been 14 lines. The pure Italian form had an octet rhymed ABBAABBA, and a sestet rhymed (variously) CDECDE, CDCDCD, or CDEEDC. The pure English form had three stanzas rhymed either ABAB or ABBA, and a concluding couplet. Although a few sonnets have been written in iambic hexameter, most are done in iambic pentameter. Either is acceptable, but once started, the sonnet should stay in a fixed form. There have been mixed forms, with English rhyme schemes and Italian octet/sestet structure. Major periods of sonnet writing have occured in English from approx. 1450 to 1600, 1750 to 1850, and 1920 through the present.
I hope that this will help those out there trying to write sonnets.
The major woman poets of the 18th and early 19th century wrote sonnets to show that they were serious poets, and capable of the same levels of skill as DWM. I can recommend the book "A Century of Sonnets (1750 - 1850)" for a number of great examples of the first sonnet rennaissance.
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sj
