Tag Archives: Sonnet Technique

Sonnets in Lyrical couplets–the gateway drug… Possibly?

Posted by David Emeron on

Having recently discovered a sonnet in lyrical couplets by Kipling, [“When Fear Came,” I believe it is titled, in the 2nd “Jungle Book”] and having written one myself, albeit as a character rather than as myself, I was put in mind of the above possibility.  As such I would like to write a few more couplet sonnets.  But also….

I feel perhaps, I might write a series of sonnet like forms ranging from completely freeverse to completely structured.  I feel that in such a way one might bring someone along a bit toward realising that sonnets are not so very hard to understand.

Of course, even if they were, one may still have the experience of hearing one read aloud; for the sound itself, is quite beautiful even without full comprehension.  Still, sonnet form is relatively simple; and even if classical topical structure is maintained (e.g. a sonnet reading essentially:  “Consider this…  But wait, what about this?” this turn or ‘volta’ most often occurring at the ninth line but often delayed till the very last; and sometimes, though rarely, earlier than that) quite easy to understand.

I feel this sequence I describe in the second paragraph is a bit of “cheating” perhaps, because the first few examples would be quite easy to write; however, I have been wondering in what way I might reward myself for having passed my sixth month mark, and perhaps this might be fitting.   I cannot, for example, think of any further paid services at this time in which I would desire to engage; therefore, I am reduced to content related rewards, I fear!

It is possible, I suppose, that the following are related articles:

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.

Sonnet: (template) (Haiku/terza-rima/tanka) Coming (perhaps) soon to a website near you

Posted by David Emeron on

This pattern occurred to me several days prior. I have experimented with sonnets containing word-wise or word count haiku in one form or another. And have made some notes regarding some that I might soon attempt.

I have never, on the other hand, written a sonnet in terza-rima which at that time a few days ago, also struck me as an ideal rhymescheme for embedded haiku. But even more recently, yesterday evening on my way home from running a few errands, it suddenly made some sense to me that if I concluded the sonnet with an embedded tanka, I would not need to include a 15th line or include an extra line representing a rather long title (in iambic pentameter.) In this way, I believe I might combine these two oriental forms with sonnet form seamlessly.

Furthermore, having considered the fusion of the two and/or three forms at some length, I have devised five differing rhymeschemes as shown in the diagram below:

 
line     words      Rhymescheme: 1  2  3  4  5
-----------------------------------------------
 1)        5                     A  A  A  A  A
 2)        7                     B  B  B  B  B
 3)        5                     A  A  A  C  A

 4)        5                     B  B  A  A  C
 5)        7                     C  A  B  C  B
 6)        5                     B  C  C  D  C

 7)        5                     C  A  C  B  D
 8)        7                     D  C  D  C  E
 9)        5                     C  D  C  D  D

10)        5                     D  C  C  B  F
11)        7                     E  D  D  D  E
12)        5                     D  E  E  E  F

13)      5 [7]                   E  D  F  E  G
14)      7 [x]                  [D] E [D] D [F]
15)      5 [7]                   E [D] F [E] G
------------------------------------------------
.

In all cases, I believe line 14 (the one with the ‘x’) would be omitted in favour of the tanka termination. This would give a 7 word concluding couplet rhyme to end each piece regardless of which of the five rhymeschemes I might use.

I therefore am getting a bit closer to writing something specifically for Kanzensakura–something I would very much like to do.

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Part XII: (lyrical couplets)

Posted by David Emeron on

This, the most familiar form of rhyme
Is used in song and verse time after time

This the sixth edition came about
The gateway to familiarise throughout
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Part 11: (Shakespearean blankverse)

Posted by David Emeron on

Divinely “stepping rhythm:” blankverse–thou,
Most courtly poetess, to me once wrote–
To promenade as flawlessly anon.
Continue reading →