Tag Archives: Petrarchan sonnet

The Inverse:

Posted by David Emeron on

And for the inverse, I offer up the following:

  1. C                                                    1             (14
  2. A                                     1                            (7
  3. B                     1                                            (8
  4. A                                     2                            (5
  5. C                                                    2             (9
    .
  6. B                     2                                            (6
  7. A                                     3                            (2
  8. B                     3                                            (3
  9. C                                                    3             (4
    .
  10. E           1                                                      (13
  11. D     2                                                            (12
  12. D     2                                                            (10
  13. E           1                                                      (11
  14. C                                                    4             (1

Interpret it as you will!  No, I relent.  As in the previous example, the columns are:

  • line number,
  • lettered rhymescheme,
  • numbered instance of each rhyme, staggered for easier reading,
  • and finally, a number designation of each discrete rhyming word.

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Sonnet: (template) ((More “Etudes” comming))…

Posted by David Emeron on

This…  is evidently the way in which I avoid working on my poetry.  As well, this is evidently the way in which I avoid working on my sonnet site.  Am I the archetypal mismatcher–the quintessential oppositional personality?  I shall let you be the judge.

In any event, I offer up the following for your consideration:

  1. C                                                1          (1
  2. A                                 1                         (2
  3. B                  1                                        (3
  4. C                                                2          (4
    .
  5. A                                 2                         (5
  6. B                  2                                        (6
  7. A                                 3                         (7
  8. B                  3                                        (8
  9. C                                                3          (9
    .
  10. D            1                                              (10
  11. E      1                                                    (11
  12. D            2                                              (12
  13. E      2                                                    (13
  14. C                                                4          (14

Recently I have experimented with Italian varieties wherein the lines numbered 9 and 14 rhyme.  The above is an attempt to create a unique form specific to this idea rather than simply modifying the Petrarchan (Italian) scheme.  My only quandary now, is what to call it….  “Northwestern” perhaps?  “Portlandian?”  “455,” as in “four five five?”

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Reverse Petrarchan/Reverse Italian Sonnets:

Posted by David Emeron on

In the sequence Regarding the Male form, You will see an atypical rhymescheme in Sonnet #3, this is what may be termed a “Reverse Italian,” or “Reverse Petrarchan,” if you prefer the more formal name.

Also in this sequence, the piece directly preceding this one is a more direct companion.  Sonnet #2  in the sequence is a conventional Italian or Petrarchan.

I enjoy reversing forms in order that I might see how they work, sound, feel, etc.  A Petrarchan is difficult to reverse, because in the first section you have

ABBA, ABBA,

which when reversed gives one BAAB, BAAB, which is identical in sound.  So I can see the best possibility here might be to reverse one quatrain which gives:

ABBA, BAAB, which does have a unique sound.

Also the second section of a Petrarchan–the final six lines–are never set to one form so they may be

CDECDE, or CDCDCD, or CDECED, or even occasionally, CDCDEE,

which is something of a rarely; but even Petrarch did it that way once.  You will see any number of possibilities in the final six lines.  Except you will never (that I know of) see something like:

CCDEDE, which a reverse of CDCDEE,

So that seems a logical target for a Reverse Petrarchan.

All this together gives

ABBA BAAB CCDEDE,

One could perhaps try CCDEED, or possibly a third use of C, but the couplet really must, I think, be in lines 9 and 10.