The Viking Situation:

Herein I attempt to link all the relevant posts wherever they may be:

  1. First: the location of the original exchange:  February 7th, 2013 at 4:03 am
  2. Next, the whole enchilada:  My first…
  3. Next, the introduction which you (kanzensakura) stumbled upon:  Where is Waldo?
  4. And the sonnet I wrote inspired by the whole exchange:  Sonnet:
  5. Finally, a note about the piece–titled referent to my research on the subject:   FYI

Now, after and, I think during the hole affair, there were even some very peculiar emails exchanged.  They seemed to appear in great heaps.  Those, however, I did not save, and had I saved them, I would not publish them here for ethical reasons–even if I chose to redact the identity of the author of these.

Related articles (only the first two are actually related, heh)

The 101:

I have three steps so far from freeverse to decasyllabic line.  Next will be blankverse: in which I should approach iambic pentameter.  Five sounds of two syllables each all of which have a feminine first syllable and a masculine second.   And as was my plan before I was so rudely interrupted by existential sadness, I am backfilling with this project.  Which, thus far, I am enjoying greatly.  There is also some new material not related to this that I am in various stages of completing.  So, unless my work ethic disappears along with my sadness, I shouldn’t think I’ll have too much difficulty catching up.

Here is the sequence as it sits so far:

This is, of course, not a formal course, as I have neither qualifications nor experience with composing such things.

I may do a write up on each entry; however, as of now, this is not planned.  My more classically enabled sweetheart and, two dear and much more classically educated friends might be willing to help me with suggestions as to how to arrange such a thing.   Still, since I have the impression that this project will, at best,  receive one or two hits here and there, I am in no rush to do so.  Regarding the evolving sequence and the progressing sequence to follow, the sonnets themselves are the most important.

 

I’ll have enough to do as it is in catching myself up, as it were!

Wish me luck!

The Course:

This first round will be
the gradual evolution of one piece only.
I believe I shall show

the same or similar examples
But each one differing in subject matter
In the next short series.

I had originally written the above as the introduction to the first sonnet in the first series, both of which are mentioned above; however my sweetheart has written such a lovely piece–or, more accurately, I took down verbatim the naturally poetic words she quietly uttered when nearly asleep.  And for some reason, although I confess I had written it first–that is, before her lovely words I posted–here we have another moment of synchronicity wherein what is the first offering in the series is an answer of sorts.   I had originally intended to use a much more tame subject; however I tend toward perversity whether I intend it or not; and as usual, I have gone the other way.  In any case, I shall leave my sweetheart’s wonderful words where they are, as I have found that moving things about can have disastrous results for a number of reasons, not the least of which is that wordpress.com’s so called permalinks  are…  well…  not permanent.

In any case the “course material,” if such it can truly be called, is here:

I do not have…

…writer’s block, nor stage fright, for that matter.  I am not quite sure why that is, but still, sometimes it is difficult to bring myself to keep to my schedule.   Particularly now.  I know I could, for example use one of my developed techniques to write several sonnets in the next hour or two; but I can already tell, I am not going to.  I think tomorrow, I will do so.

Lately, I think I have have written a series of more serious and more heartfelt sonnets, and these do not necessarily need to be the norm.   When I started this project, I made a joke about not writing sonnets about trivial matters, still, there is something between writing about one’s sunburn during one’s vacation (in Majorca, I have always maintained) and writing a nice-sounding sonnet about a less trivial but still not a soul deafeningly deep matter.   I thought nothing of doing this at first, as I mentioned.  Still, I think I have been having what a dear friend of mine would call “a case of the blues.”  And I am disinclined to write about this case for the reason above.

Sometimes one gets to a point where one does not wish to delve.  I am after all, more–much more–a musician than a writer of any kind.  And even though music is more difficult than writing–as is practically every field of human endeavour–in the grand scheme of things, music comes rather more easy to me than writing.  So to compose a sonnet that sounds nice the subject of which is rather vague or even cryptic, is not a difficult thing to accomplish.  Still I do feel much better now that I “verbalise” this fact.

I can write, perhaps because of whatever musical, or one might say: “sound related senses,” I may posses, something rather quickly.  Some of these sonnets have ended up being quite nice to my ears; and, as often happens in such a case, capriciousness gives way to depth as one writes, arranges, and rearranges words in such an endeavour.  Sometimes of course the result may…  sound better than it means, or sound more clearly than its meaning is clear.  Still, more often than not, perhaps, these are nearly indistinguishable from those into which I invest quite a lot of thought and emotion and research of one kind or another.

Quite often, a very deeply held feeling can also roll off the pen, even when one is using a particularly difficult form.  Although my general “policy,” as it were, has always been to let the text dictate the best form to use.  I have very many to chose from, in sonnet writing.  When one realises there are:

  1. Shakespearean (abab,cdcd,efef,gg)
  2. Reverse Shakespearean (aa, bcbc, dede, fgfg)
  3. Interlocking Shakespearean (abab, cdcd, dede, fg — fg abab, cdcd, efef)
  4. Italian (1221, 1221, 6*{AB} | {ABC} (six final lines of two or three ephemerals which can vary in almost any combination))
  5. Reverse Italian: 1221, 2112, AA 4* {BA} | {BC} (two or three rhymes but beginning with a couplet.
  6. Spenserian (a1a1, 1212, 2323, bb)
  7. Reverse Spenserian (2121, 3232, 4343, [14][14])   one of my favourites.
  8. Emeronian (a1a2, b1b2, c1c2, [d1][d2])
  9. Reverse Emeronian (1a2a, 1b2b, 1c2c, [1d][2d])   another favourite.
  10. Sequential (1234, 1234, 1234, [12][34]) another invention
  11. unnamed (aa1a, bb1b, cc1c, [1d][1d])
  12. Canopian ([a-a]c[b-b]c, [d-d]f[e-e]f, [g-g]1[h-h]1, [j-j]1) extrapolation from “Roddenberry’s Couplet.”
  13. Unlucky ( ????????????? )

It is easy to conceive of the appropriate form to use given the idea one wishes to express.  So I must now pledge to continue in this way tomorrow wherein It may be easier to accomplish after some rest. : )

On the 17th…

…is sonnet IV of the Shakespeare reflected variety.  As usual, it is a reverse Spenserian.  Internal rhymes are all couplets (also as per usual) however this time, I used all of Shakespeare’s rhyming words for these.  I use these in the order in which they appear, excepting that they are rearranged to couplet form.  Mechanically this worked better than expected; however I feel the hairs on the back of my neck standing on end, as no doubt, Lucas is “gunning” for this one.

Sonnets with embedded haiku and tanka…

…are more involved to write than most. Even in étude form wherein the subject matter is secondary.

First, there is form and reverse form to consider.
Next, there is the word count wherein lines and sentences need rephrasing.

This has been an odd week, but I feel I can continue to work on them now.   And then, perhaps, write a few more such sonnets without the use of the formulaic method of the Études series.