Exploring The Sonnets

I found some new (different) versions of Sonnet. I invite p&q members to try them out. I chose a few that where Challenging but not overly complicated...

Sonnet Defined:

1. Fourteen Lines

Why fourteen lines? Why not? The fourteen lines allows for some creative breaks in traditional sonnets. Our example is a Shakespearean sonnet. It has three quatrains, (a quatrain is group of four lines) followed by a couplet (a couplet is a group of two lines). The turn, or "volta" in a Shakespearean sonnet typically comes at the beginning of the third quatrain. This gives the sense that the sonnet has built to a sort of point before being brought home to its ending, which is then punctuated by the final rhyming couplet. It reminds me of a wave building up, rolling in, and crashing onto the shore.

2. Set Rhyme Scheme

A rhyme requires a set of lines with matching sounds at the end. The most number of rhyming pairs a sonnet can have then is 7, since there are only 14 lines and fourteen divided by two is seven.

When we talk about rhyme schemes for a sonnet, we typically use letters to indicate the matching rhymes.

3. Meter

Metre is from the Greek word for measuring; at its most basic, metre is a system of describing what we can measure about the audible features of a poem. The systems that have been used in history to structure metres are: the number of syllables (syllabic); the duration of syllables (quantitative); the number of stressed syllables, or accents (accentual); and combinations of the above. English is not a language that works easily in quantitative metre (although this has not stopped people trying), and it has developed an accentual-syllabic metre for its formal verse. This means that, in a formal poem, the poet will be counting the syllables, the stresses, and keeping them to a pattern.

To describe the pattern, the stressed and unstressed syllables are gathered into groups known as feet, and the number of feet to a line gives a name thus:

1 foot: monometer
2 feet: dimeter
3 feet: trimeter
4 feet: tetrameter
5 feet: pentameter
6 feet: hexameter
7 feet: heptameter
8 feet: octameter

Sonnet Forms;

Burns Sonnet .. a. b. a. b. . c. d. d. c. . . . e. f. f. e.. . g. g (Any meter)

Burns seemed to experiment for a while with sonnet form, but seems to have settled with his form; "A Sonnet Upon Sonnets". This is only a slight deviation from the English form but a complete disregard of Iambic Pentameter, which was as different to him as French or German. Here is the rhyme scheme. a. b. a. b...c. d. d. c...e. f. f. e...g. g..

A Sonnet upon Sonnets

Fourteen, a sonneteer thy praises sings;
What magic myst'ries in that number lie!
Your hen hath fourteen eggs beneath her wings
That fourteen chickens to the roost may fly.
Fourteen full pounds the jockey's stone must be;
His age fourteen--a horse's prime is past.
Fourteen long hours too oft the Bard must fast;
Fourteen bright bumpers--bliss he ne'er must see!
Before fourteen, a dozen yields the strife;
Before fourteen--e'en thirteen's strength is vain.
Fourteen good years--a woman gives us life;
Fourteen good men--we lose that life again.
What lucubrations can be more upon it?
Fourteen good measur'd verses make a sonnet.

By Robert Burns

Pushkin Sonnet .. a. b. a. b. . . c. c. d. d. . . e. f. f. e. . . g. g. (Any meter)

This form was described as a "mettlesome creature" and A.D.P Briggs in his introduction to Evgeny Onegin states that Pushkin invented a sonnet form which can go either way becoming Italian or English at the flick of a switch in mid stanza.

The Octave rhymes - a. b.a. b.....c.c. d.d.....

(Note) The first quatrain uses an alternating rhyme, and the second one, two couplets.

The sestet is where the change occurs and also expands the form. The original Pushkin sestet was either two tercets e.f.f.... e.g.g

Lady to Knight

'Twas that you that came to my bed last night
I did waken to whispers of sweetest love
Within wildest dreams received with delight
I feared to awaken from dreams thereof;
'Were you really my knight in shining armour
Who came to my bed with noise and clamour,
With a bower of sweet roses still on the tree
And thorns of scorn constantly pricking me;
I doth ne-er forsake thee for thus I may vow
Come now dear knight upon thy rampant steed
Who hath ridden hard to reach thy great need
If 'tis love thou so desire come hitherto now;
Come stay now dear knight thy whispers I keep
Sweet dreams shalt return when e`re I sleep'.

By Divena Collins

Wordsworth Sonnet .. a. b. b. a. . a. c. c. a. . d. e. d. e. . f. f. (Any Meter)

Wordsworth sonnets only differ from Byron by the Sestet. The Octave comprises of a progression of three rhymes a. b. b. a... a. c. c. a. but he uses an English sestet that uses a quatrain and a couplet, d. e. e. d...f. f.

From the same. To the Supreme Being

The prayers I make will then be sweet indeed
If Thou the spirit give by which I pray:
My unassisted heart is barren clay,
Which of its native self can nothing feed:
Of good and pious works thou art the seed,
Which quickens only where thou say'st it may:
Unless thou shew to us thine own true way
No man can find it: Father! thou must lead.
Do Thou, then, breathe those thoughts into my mind
By which such virtue may in me be bred
That in thy holy footsteps I may tread;
The fetters of my tongue do Thou unbind,
That I may have the power to sing of thee,
And sound thy praises everlastingly.

By William Wordsworth

Australian Sonnet (Bowlesian Sonnet) .. a. b. b. a. . . c. d. d. c. . . e. f. f. e. . . g. g. (Any meter)

This sonnet form has three Envelope quatrains and a couplet, which gives a rhyme sequence of;
a. b. b. a.... c. d. d. c..... e. f. f. e.... g. g.... Each sonnet is Tetrameter, Pentameter, or similar.

Bond of Love

Captivating thoughts remain within
rendering dreams of a past refrain
pledged deep in her heart to regain
how could this love be taught a sin
discreminations of inborn chastity
remained as staunch within her mind
until fantasies arose of another kind
that had soon awakened a credibility
love holds no shame upon a loving heart
within a tender moment of utter bliss
an endearment of love sealed with kiss
that within a memory shall never part,
how may they think of this love a shame
it can only be ignorant minds to blame.

By Divena Collins

Good Luck & Good Writing

Thank you for posting this Robert!!

Maple Got These Sonnet Forms From;
http://www.thepoetsgarret.com/

http://www.thepoetsgarret.com/sonnet.html