What can I say... I'm a senior, and life is crazy! It's been full of fun, beauty, joy, love... full of everything wonderful! (except keeping up on this blog)
One of the many activities I'm participating in this year is a Shakespeare class. We've been reading and discussing various plays (putting on short scenes at each class) and are now launching into preparations and practices for a production of Twelfth Night. And one of the assignments for this week's class was to write a sonnet. It was my first attempt at writing one, for that matter my first attempt in writing in meter at all, and I very much enjoyed it.
I cannot seem to write a good sonnet
No rhymes, no subjects to my thoughts do spring
From my mind inspiration has been let
And any creativity ta'en wing.
Though potential subjects before me lie
As numerous as sands upon the shore
Nothing concrete from thoughts can I pry
Though I upon my fogginess make war.
Mayhap my poem had waxed quite eloquent
Describing laughter, lovely friends or snow
If I had but a smudge of his talent
Oh then such sonnets from my pen would flow.
Yet none of Shakespeare's blood is in my veins
And in this poem tis foolishness that reigns.
Saturday, December 05, 2009
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9 comments:
freshman, junior, senior, what grades are they?
glad you enjoy it
Most lines were good, I cannot well deny,
but some had metric faults, I testify
dudumm - dudumm - dudumm - dudumm - dudumm = five iambs:
Though potential subjects before me lie
dududumm - dududumm - dududumm - dudumm - frankly, no
Nothing concrete from thoughts can I pry
dummduh - dudumm - dudumm - dududumm - again, no
Mayhap my poem had waxed quite eloquent
dudumm - dudumm - dududumm - dudumm - dudumm
hmmm ... maybe
"Yet none of Shakespeare's blood is in my veins"
How do you know that? He had children. He may still have descendants. You may be one of them. (I would not be a likely candidate, since few English have emigrated to Sweden).
"And in this poem tis foolishness that reigns."
Admission of impotence, though in this case exaggerated (or it may refer to previous attempts or not-even-attempts) is no folly.
I wrote my first poem at 13. Unfortunately I had decided on the C type of Anglo-Saxon halfline, and I used it consistently. The types of Anglo-Saxon halflines are meant to vary and be dominated by type A. Fortunately it was not long.
I have written a sonnet in which NONE of the lines are five iambs, ALL closer to four anapaests, but that is another matter.
Luddite's lament.
Though Shelley actually would invert more than one iamb, sometimes making a line close to your faulty ones.
I have also learnt how to write Anglo-Saxon verse, this is about homelessness and Santiago:
With lights and loud music
And, Tolkien's other favourite verse, beside Anglo-Saxon halflines, the octosyllable (or four iambs) is far easier than both:
Dùnadan's vigil is of course Tolkien fan fiction.
First stanza makes allusion to mediæval custom of saying a rosary to tell time, last stanza gives allusion to Laudes/Prime, the whole reflects my experience of standing watch in a trench (Sweden had even before US recognised Lithuania as a free state the year when I did my military service). It was cold, but the morning colours were beautiful.
oh, twelfth grade!
I think you have a spam comment (with nasty link after Chinese characters) to delete. And I think you got it for getting comments from me.
My internet use is observed ...
A chinese friend (vogliotempo.blogspot) said it was a councel to be conservative.
My discussion with him is on comments of this post of his. Most of it is me supporting creationism, him supporting evolution.
PS:
Here is a link on Shakespear.
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