The Shakespearean Sonnet or English Sonnet consists of three quatrains (four-line stanzas), rhyming abab cdcd efef, and a couplet (a two-line stanza), rhyming gg. Because each new stanza introduces a new set of rhyming sounds, the Shakespearean sonnet is well-suited to English, which is less richly endowed than Italian with rhyming words. As with the structure of the Petrarchan sonnet, that of the Shakespearean sonnet influences the kinds of ideas that will be developed in it. For example, the three quatrains may be used to present three parallel images, with the couplet used to tie them together or to interpret their significance. Or the quatrains can offer three points in an argument, with the couplet serving to drive home the conclusion.
With the inauguration of the 17th century, Baroque attitudes swept through Europe; and in England, the period came under Samuel Johnson’s nomenclature Metaphysical Poetry. Sonnet 10, from John Donne’s Holy Sonnets, a powerful apostrophe to death, is an illustration of the rhetoric and tenor of the time.
Directions: Please read through the poems below. Compose a blog response commenting on the sonnets in some thoughtful way. You may be comparing and contrasting works, commenting on a particular poem that moved you, or examining a cross-section of works. NOTE: If you finished, please peruse Sonnet Central, and add to your post. You may cut and paste any sonnets you would likt to share with your comments.
Italian Sonnet
translated by Anthony Mortimer
The eyes I spoke of once in words that burn,
the arms and hands and feet and lovely face
that took me from myself for such a space
of time and marked me out from other men;
the waving hair of unmixed gold that shone,
the smile that flashed with the angelic rays
that used to make this earth a paradise,
are now a little dust, all feeling gone;
and yet I live, grief and disdain to me,
left where the light I cherished never shows,
in fragile bark on the tempestuous sea.
Here let my loving song come to a close;
the vein of my accustomed art is dry,
and this, my lyre, turned at last to tears.
Translation 2 (Notice the difference in sound and cadence)
The eyes I spoke of with such warmth,
The arms and hands and feet and face
Which took me away from myself
And marked me out from other people;
The waving hair of pure shining gold,
And the flash of her angelic smile,
Which used to make a paradise on earth,
Are a little dust, that feels nothing.
And yet I live, for which I grieve and despise myself,
Left without the light I loved so much,
In a great storm on an unprotected raft.
Here let there be an end to my loving song:
The vein of my accustomed invention has run dry,
And my lyre is turned to tears.
Original Italian (How is the form better suited to Italian)
Gli occhi di ch'io parlai sì caldamente,
et le braccia et le mani e i piedi e 'l viso,
che m'avean sì da me stesso diviso,
et fatto singular da l'altra gente;
le crespe chiome d'òr puro lucente
'l lampeggiar de l'angelico riso,
che solean fare in terra un paradiso,
poca polvere son, che nulla sente.
Et io pur vivo, onde mi doglio e sdegno,
rimaso senza 'l lume ch'amai tanto,
in gran fortuna e 'n disarmato legno.
Or sia qui fine al mio amoroso canto:
secca è la vena de l'usato ingegno,
et la cetera mia rivolta in pianto.
The English Sonnet
Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove:
O, no! it is an ever-fixed mark,
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wandering bark,
Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.
Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle's compass come;
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
If this be error and upon me prov'd,
I never writ, nor no man ever lov'd.
Metaphysical Poetry
"Sonnet 10" by John DonneDeath be not proud, though some have calléd thee
Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so;
For those whom thou think’st thou dost overthrow
Die not, poor Death, nor yet canst thou kill me.
From rest and sleep, which but thy pictures be,
Much pleasure; then from thee much more must flow,
And soonest our best men with thee do go,
Rest of their bones, and soul’s delivery.
Thou art slave to fate, chance, kings, and desperate men,
And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell,
And poppy or charms can make us sleep as well
And better than thy stroke; why swell’st thou then?
One short sleep past, we wake eternally
And death shall be no more, Death thou shalt die.
Modern English Sonnet
"Sonnet 43" by Elizabeth Barrett Browning
How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of Being and ideal Grace.
I love thee to the level of everyday’s
Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.
I love thee freely, as men strive for Right;
I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise.
I love thee with the passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood’s faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints—I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life!—and if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.
Harlem Renaissance
"America" by Claude McKayAlthough she feeds me bread of bitterness,
And sinks into my throat her tiger’s tooth,
Stealing my breath of life, I will confess
I love this cultured hell that tests my youth!
Her vigor flows like tides into my blood,
Giving me strength erect against her hate.
Her bigness sweeps my being like a flood.
Yet as a rebel fronts a king in state,
I stand within her walls with not a shred
Of terror, malice, not a word of jeer.
Darkly I gaze into the days ahead,
And see her might and granite wonders there,
Beneath the touch of time’s unerring hand,
Like priceless treasures sinking in the sand.
Modernism
pity this busy monster, manunkind,
not. Progress is a comfortable disease:
your victim (death and life safely beyond)
plays with the bigness of his littleness
—electrons deify one razorblade
into a mountainrange; lenses extend
unwish through curving wherewhen till unwish
returns on its unself.
A world of made
is not a world of born—pity poor flesh
and trees, poor stars and stones, but never this
fine specimen of hypermagical
ultraomnipotence. We doctors know
a hopeless case if—listen: there’s a hell
of a good universe next door; let’s go.
Post Modernism
The notes like little fishes vanish with a wink of tails,
Man’s heart expands to tinker with his car
For this is Sunday morning, Fate’s great bazaar;
Regard these means as ends, concentrate on this Now,
And you may grow to music or drive beyond Hindhead anyhow,
Take corners on two wheels until you go so fast
That you can clutch a fringe or two of the windy past,
That you can abstract this day and make it to the week of time
A small eternity, a sonnet self-contained in rhyme.
But listen, up the road, something gulps, the church spire
Opens its eight bells out, skulls’ mouths which will not tire
To tell how there is no music or movement which secures
Escape from the weekday time. Which deadens and endures.
Dear God, Our Heavenly Father, Gracious Lord,
Mother Love and Maker, Light Divine,
Atomic Fingertip, Cosmic Design,
First Letter of the Alphabet, Last Word,
Mutual Satisfaction, Cash Award,
Auditor Who Approves Our Bottom Line,
Examiner Who Says That We Are Fine,
Oasis That All Sands Are Running Toward.
I can say almost anything about you,
O Big Idea, and with each epithet,
Create new reasons to believe or doubt you,
Black Hole, White Hole, Presidential Jet.
But what’s the anything I must leave out? You
Solve nothing but the problems that I set.
"God’s Secretary" by R.S. Gwynn
Her e-mail inbox always overflows.
Her outbox doesn’t get much use at all.
She puts on hold the umpteen-billionth call
As music oozes forth to placate those
Who wait, then disconnect. Outside, wind blows,
Scything pale leaves. She sees a sparrow fall
Fluttering to a claw-catch on a wall.
Will He be in today? God only knows.
She hasn’t seen His face—He’s so aloof.
She’s long resigned He’ll never know or love her
But still can wish there were some call, some proof
That He requires a greater service of her.
Fingers of rain now drum upon the roof,
Coming from somewhere, somewhere far above her.
Her e-mail inbox always overflows.
Her outbox doesn’t get much use at all.
She puts on hold the umpteen-billionth call
As music oozes forth to placate those
Who wait, then disconnect. Outside, wind blows,
Scything pale leaves. She sees a sparrow fall
Fluttering to a claw-catch on a wall.
Will He be in today? God only knows.
She hasn’t seen His face—He’s so aloof.
She’s long resigned He’ll never know or love her
But still can wish there were some call, some proof
That He requires a greater service of her.
Fingers of rain now drum upon the roof,
Coming from somewhere, somewhere far above her.
With a first line taken from the tv listings
A man is haunted by his father’s ghost.
Boy meets girl while feuding families fight.
A Scottish king is murdered by his host.
Two couples get lost on a summer night.
A hunchback murders all who block his way.
A ruler’s rivals plot against his life.
A fat man and a prince make rebels pay.
A noble Moor has doubts about his wife.
An English king decides to conquer France.
A duke learns that his best friend is a she.
A forest sets the scene for this romance.
An old man and his daughters disagree.
A Roman leader makes a big mistake.
A sexy queen is bitten by a snake.
Millennial Poems
“Lines Composed on April 23, 2016, on the 400th Anniversary of His Death” by Wilude Scabere
Shall I compare his language to a grave?
It is more lively and more flowery.
His rough-shook words refuse to be death’s slave.
No tomb’s as showy or so showery.
A sepulchre, though hard as rock, erodes,
and shrines do often lose their lustre’s prime,
while monuments, though nice, make poor abodes,
and sadly catacombs decay in time.
But Shakespeare’s language will not go away.
Unceasingly, his lines play in the mind.
They pop up even on a summer’s day.
Unlike a crypt, they will not stay behind.
Alas, poor Oracle, his song goes on,
despite all efforts of oblivion.
“A Hero” by Evan Mantyk
(Note: Zhen-Shan-Ren, Truth, Compassion and Tolerance, are the three main principles of the spiritual practice Falun Gong, which, along with Christianity, is persecuted in China)
These are the weathered shoes worn by the Jew,
So cracked from all the miles walked since he fled.
These are the slave’s strong legs like trunks that grew
And worked so hard until he’s beaten dead.
This is the heart of Christians who’re hemmed in
by beasts, while Romans laugh at them and yell.
These poisoned lips of Socrates destined
To die, and yet in virtue ever dwell.
This banner is the shield of Spartan men
Outnumbered by a thousand foes to one;
Its moral words in Chinese, Zhen-Shan-Ren,
Are spears of truth that no one can outrun.
The Falun Gong man now before you stands,
A hero for all times and for all lands.
I personally think that these sonnets are quite interesting but kind of confusing sometimes. I find it hard to understand the ‘older english’ language that they use like ‘thee, thou, canst, shalt, dost etc.’ because I think it makes the poems a lot harder to read and sometimes it makes the meaning of a statement or sentence kind of confusing just because I don't know the meaning of those words. Though I will admit that I really like how a lot of the sonnets are about love because Romance novels are my favorite types of books to read and I feel like we don’t get the chance to read many romance texts in school so I feel like this is a nice change of pace. I also think that the figurative language used in the sonnets and incredibly rich and vivid. For example in “Sunday Morning” by Louis MacNeice it describes music that someone hears in the distance as, “The notes like little fish vanish with a wink of tails”. I believe that this is such a unique but very descriptive simile.
ReplyDeleteI liked some of the newer sonnetts because I felt like I could relate to them better. One of my favorites was "God’s Secretary" by R.S. Gwynn. I thought it was quirky and funny and wasn't as serious as some of the other things that we have read this year. It was a unique concept to think about how if God had a secretary they would have to deal with all kinds of pleas and prayers from humans on Earth. The secretary doesn't even know herself who God is for what purpose she is really serving.
This comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteThe Two Terrors (Amy Levy)
DeleteTwo terrors fright my soul by night and day:
The first is Life, and with her come the years ;
A weary, winding train of maidens they,
With forward-fronting eyes, too sad for tears;
Upon whose kindred faces, blank and grey,
The shadow of a kindred woe appears.
Death is the second terror; who shall say
What form beneath the shrouding mantle nears?
Which way she turn, my soul finds no relief,
My smitten soul may not be comforted ;
Alternately she swings from grief to grief,
And, poised between them, sways from dread to dread.
For there she dreads because she knows ; and here,
Because she knows not, only faints with fear.
While perusing Sonnet Central I was able to find some greta poetry by female authors. It’s kind of weird but I really like reading poetry written by women because I feel like poetry is often very personal and written from that author's perspective. A woman's perspective and views have often been shunned and disregarded in history so that’s why I love to read poetry from poets like Amy Levy (1861-1889) to hear about their worldly views at that time. I thought that her ideas in “The Two Terrors” about life and death being her two greatest terrors was very relatable even though they are complete opposites. People always fear life because they have a fear of aging and what is to come next. The second fear is death because it is so foreboding and unpredictable and you truly never know when it is going to come and just the thought of death is so uncomforting. Amy Levy also uses very rich figurative language like in her sonnet, “On the Wye in May” one of the lines say, “Half naked branches, half a mist of green, Vivid and delicate the slopes appear”. It describes a beautiful spring morning in such a vivid and interesting way.
DeleteI agree with your statement that the "old English" has made it hard for me, along with many others, to truly understand the concept of the sonnets. This is why older poems have lost their meaning as time has passed. Such a statement also makes me wonder what will become of our "modern poems" with time. Our modern English will one day be considered the "old" English and will soon lose their meanings as well as the way one speaks and writes changes. Is there a way to somehow keep our English writing as basic as can be so that with time the meaning of the poem will still uphold, but yet again if one were to use basic English writing, will the overall meaning of the poem change.
Delete^
DeleteI
Lizaida
E.E. Cummings’ “Pity This Busy Monster, Manunkind” caught my attention first because it utilizes the poetic tactic of tricking the reader into thinking one thing at the end of a line, but then changing the meaning in the next line. This can be seen in the couplet, “. . . there’s a hell/ of a good universe next door; let’s go.” At the end of line 13, readers think Cummings is talking about hell itself, which is a terrible place, but in the next line we see that he is actually using the phrase “hell of a good” to describe an imaginary “universe” where people appreciate nature instead of being caught up in man-made products and man-made life goals.
ReplyDeleteIt was also interesting to experience the evolution of sonnets by reading “Sonnet 116” by Shakespeare and then skipping directly to the millennial sonnet, “A Hero,” by Evan Mantyk. “A Hero” still uses the same rhyming pattern and 14-line structure that reads in iambic pentameter, but it is not about love. Mantyk breaks away from this expectation by talking about the characteristics of true heroes (truth, compassion and tolerance) that are demonstrated by Jews during the Holocaust, slaves, and persecuted Christians. Although content in sonnets has seen some changes, it is still amazing that over the course of four hundred years, the original structure remains the same.
On a side note, I laughed when I read the opening lines of “God’s Secretary” by R.S. Gwynn: “Her e-mail inbox always overflows./ Her outbox doesn’t get much use at all.” He so amusingly illustrates people’s frustration toward God by comparing their prayers to unread emails and phone calls that are put on hold.
All of the poems use structure and language to express emotion to the readers. I love poems, and I enjoyed all of these, but my favorite poem was the first translation of Sonnet 922, and I think it does a good job of expressing how poets want you to feel whilst reading their poems. There is no importance for us to hear about Mortimer’s love, but maybe he used it as a way to express how he truly felt. He starts by describing how he saw them and how ‘angelic’ they looked within the first seven stanzas, and the switch beyond that is very powerful. He quickly changes the feeling of the poem, which catches the reader by surprise. This is also seen in Shakespeare’s love sonnet, Sonnet 116. Within his he has a quick change of theme and even changes the rhythmic pattern, keeping the two parts of the writing separate. I also think it is interesting how both, Mortimer and Shakespeare do not mention pronouns throughout their entire poems, so broadly, they could be about almost anything. It doesn’t seem as though poets want to educate the readers when writing them. I think they are working to either express how they feel, like in the poems by Mortimer and Shakespeare, or to entertain the readers like in God’s Secretary, which leans towards the creative side in hopes to make the reader laugh.
ReplyDeleteWhile the realm of poetry is one that I’m not very well-versed in, I loved reading these sonnets. Each piece brought its own flavor to the table, for each is a reflection of the author’s personal style and the specific time period in which they live/lived in. The language of “Sonnet 202” is quite antiquated, but this type of vernacular feels as if it rolls right off the page and into my mind. While the poem is quite old, the feelings of love and loss it speaks of are just as poignant now as they were then, and Petrach’s us of descriptive language is electrifying. In sharp contrast, the piece, “Pity this busy monster, manunkind", is harshly critical of humankind. By using frantic, almost codelike language and punctuation, e.e. cummings creates a truly chilling piece. He portrays progress, an ideal usually celebrated in literature, as “a comfortable disease: your victim (death and life safely beyond)”He speaks of humans ravaging the earth in the name of progress, and the utilitarian colons and parentheses accentuate this bleak perspective. While both sonnets vary greatly in structure and topic, they each have something in common: they use the inexhaustible paintbrush of language to paint sweeping and striking stories into the minds of readers.
ReplyDelete"Lift not the painted veil which those who live"
DeleteLift not the painted veil which those who live
Call Life: though unreal shapes be pictured there,
And it but mimic all we would believe
With colours idly spread,--behind, lurk Fear
And Hope, twin Destinies; who ever weave
Their shadows, o'er the chasm, sightless and drear.
I knew one who had lifted it--he sought,
For his lost heart was tender, things to love,
But found them not, alas! nor was there aught
The world contains, the which he could approve.
Through the unheeding many he did move,
A splendour among shadows, a bright blot
Upon this gloomy scene, a Spirit that strove
For truth, and like the Preacher found it not.
When I read all of the poems they were all really good but the one that stood out to me right from the beginning was the modernist poem. The reason it stood out was because of the way that it was laid out and what it had to say. I wasn’t laid out in sonnet format like the others it went a different way which I feel is what happened in this time people want to go away from standard and create originals where people can express themselves the way that they would like to. I like the different translated versions of that first poem because it’s crazy to see how things change based off the meaning and the sound of the words. Even though they say the same things it cool to hear the words and how they sound different and how the sentence is said out of your mouth. All these poems are very interesting.
ReplyDeleteI like how a lot of the older or older-styled sonnets had a theme of love. Whether or not they end in sadness, there’s a theme to a lot of them about being able to see the beauty in someone else. Even Claude McKay’s “America” talks about how while America is ruthless, she still holds a place in his heart. It’s human nature to find something lovable in something so cruel, and it’s been ingrained in humanity for a very long time––at least since the 1300s when Petrarch was born. The beginning of “Sunday Morning”, “Down the road someone is practicing scales,/The notes like little fishes vanish with a wink of tails,/Man’s heart expands to tinker with his car/For this is Sunday morning, Fate’s great bazaar;” gives off a similar mood, since the detail as to what happens on Sunday mornings gives it a feeling of quietness and tranquility as no one is in any rush to get things done. Overall, I loved each and every one. Each had such a definable and recognizable feeling, whether that was created through the rhyme scheme or through context or mood and tone. Each one led to an end result within me that I don’t think plain writing could accomplish. The trick that sonnets use is that they make you connect a few different symbols under one unexpected theme. They flow so smoothly that it’s easy to forget that authors had to spend considerable amounts of time writing these. I found this especially true in E.E. Cumming’s piece. Its unorthodox structure and lack of spaces between some words makes it seem chaotic and unruly. He criticizes “manunkind”, how “a world of made/is not a world of born”. Each author had their own take, and yet each thought of raw human emotion or characteristic in their own unique way, and that makes each sonnet distinct.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading these sonnets it has become clear to me that while there is a definition of a sonnet, there are infinite styles. If I were to pick, my favorite would be “shakespearean sonnet” and my least favorite would be “pity this busy monster, manunkind”. I believe this is primarily because of the format of each sonnet. The sonnets that I preferred tended to be more relaxed, but still have enough structure so it was easy to read. The modernist style is difficult to read because it forces the reader to pause in odd places. Personally, I do not like it when I feel as though the author is trying to trip me up. With no doubt my favorite style is Postmodernism. The humor in combination with the relaxed nature make the sonnets entertaining to read. The other styles made me feel as though I was reading a poem that was above my pay grade. There was an air of loftiness that made me slightly opposed to them. Perhaps it was the serious nature of the sonnets. When reading poems I feel as though I am gaining a view into the writers’ minds. The more serious poems repel me because I prefer more relaxed people, and more relaxed poems attract me for the same reason. Overall, to slightly modify Forrest Gump, sonnets are like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get.
ReplyDeleteThe sonnet that stood out the most to me is America by Claude McKay. I really enjoyed this poem because it followed a more traditional English sonnet structure with an ABABCDCDEFEFGG pattern. The only lines that were stretches rhyme wise were the F’s as jeer and there do not truly rhyme and are instead stretch rhymes. Despite the poem being written during the Harlem Renaissance, the themes and ideas presented in the poem are still relevant today. I connected a lot with the line “I love this cultured hell that tests my youth!” because that directly exemplifies how I feel about the country today. Being a kid in 2019 is incredibly difficult because I am constantly in fear of all the horrible things in the world that are facing our country in this day and age. I am in constant fear that when I walk out the door in the morning and go to school that I will not make it home. However you cannot live in fear of being hurt because if you do, you are not truly living your life. As a result, I choose to look and see the best in people and firmly believe everyone is capable of good. With that, I still maintain hope in the fact that one day everyone will be able to come together and live hand in hand in peace and harmony.
ReplyDeleteI was first drawn to the poem by Claude Mckay, “America”. I would consider this poem to be a modern-day poem with a classic feel because of it’s rhyme scheme. Most poems don’t follow a rhyme scheme which I think is a factor that makes poetry quite satisfying to read. If a poem as a specific rhyme scheme, like “America”, it makes the read more satisfying. Not to say that poems without rhymes are not a good read, they have their unique qualities as well. But I also enjoyed the language of the poem as when. It is quite simple to read and understand the meaning. It is not like a Shakespear sonnet where I have to spend much of my time deciphering each word. And though the wording simple to understand, in no way am I saying the idea in the poem is not complex. To continue my thoughts on poems without a rhyme scheme, I think they are also very enjoyable to read. Mostly because I think they sound like a normal conversation, which makes it more relatable because in day to day conversation people do not use rhymes. Along with that, it is easier to understand because it sounds like a conversation. “God’s Secretary” by R.S. Gwynn sounds like a monologue but in the third person. The poem has little rhymes in it but they are not as rigid as they are in “America”, so it still sounds normal making the more relatable.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you. I think that a rhyme scheme in a poem makes it sound almost like a song when it is read, creating the beauty of poetry. "America" is a perfect example of this. Each line flows into the next, and it is seamless to read, which is what makes it enjoyable. I agree that "God's Secretary" reads more as a conversation, which makes it a different style. It sounds less like a song, but creates a clear story for the reader. These two poems are great examples of the vast differences between poetry styles, yet they all create a work of art.
DeleteLast year I was in the school’s production of Romeo and Juliet and as a part of that experience we studied a lot of sonnets, especially those in the show. What I think is important to highlight about that show’s sonnets is that they are strictly spoken by the titular characters, who use them to communicate with one another. Despite its subtlety, this aspect of the show holds great power in demonstrating exactly how much the star crossed lovers care for one another, considering sonnets derive from intense feelings such as love or ambition. I saw a lot of similarities between the older sonnets in the collection posted but was taken aback by the simplicity and lack of formality displayed in some of the postmodernist sonnets. Unlike “Sonnet 292” by Francisco Petrarch or “Sonnet 116” by William Shakespeare, which both beautifully illustrate confusing but thought provoking images in the readers’ minds, I felt like I could easily understand what the postmodernist sonnets were getting at. Is this due to a change of the times, or am I just not getting the point? I’m not sure, but as I write this post I realize that questioning my understanding of these brilliant works of poetry is kind of the point. They don’t have to use beautiful language or tell an intricate story to illuminate ideas in the observer, as long as there is an instilled purpose behind them.
ReplyDeleteI have not been and still am not a big fan of poetry. The only poems that I have truly enjoyed are those from Dr.Seuss and my own when I filled out certain blanks to a poem template and somehow won a poetry contest with that piece. Even though my interest in poetry is limited, I actually liked reading Sonnet 292 as it was pretty straightforward and had a good rhyme scheme. This poem allowed me to become more engaged as it not only provided imagery but it contained a ABBAABBA CDECDE rhyme scheme which allowed for the distraught in the author’s tone to be evident. Even though I could not actually pronounce the words in the italian version, this version felt more romantic while still conveying that dreadful pain due to its greater use of rhymes. In contrast to this, the Modernist poem "Pity this busy monster, manunkind" by E.E. Cummings doesn’t conform to the traditional poem structures as he steps away from rhymes and experiments with grammar and punctuation.
ReplyDeleteI also wonder about the difference between an original poem and a translated version. I feel that an original poem the majority of the time is more powerful, and that a "translated" poem is more a completely new work of its own. Word choices in poetry are deliberate, and I suppose that you could find a similar translation for each in a different language... however, the same message or mood does not always stay intact when the text is transferred.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI truly enjoyed these sonnets, espically Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s "Sonnet 43." It utilizes the traditional poetic tactic and theme while keeping the method of expression concise and fresh. Browning follows the classic Italian Sonnet and the first eight lines are octave; the remaining six lines are sestet. She even uses the Shakespearean iambic pentameter to enrich her tempo. This can be seen in the line 2 and line 3, "I LOVE|thee TO|the DEPTH|and BREADTH|and HEIGHT, My SOUL|can REACH, |when FEEL|ing OUT|of SIGHT." At the end of line 3, readers already felt the beautiful rhythm of this poem and an smooth structure. Browning’s interesting twist to the traditional guidelines of sonnets attracts me as a reader. She applies unique metaphors and point of view on love. The metaphor in line 2 describes the abstract love as the largest space with "depth and breadth and height" that “my soul can reach.” In line 3, she uses personification and depicts “feeling” of her love as a fairy and running around happily. In line 5 and line 6, she images days and nights as "sun and candle-light." The parallel structure in line 7 and line 9 reveals why she loves Thee clearly, concisely and rhythmically. In line 12 and 13, Browning surprises the audience by claiming one could love someone "better after death." She breaks away from the traditional philosophical descriptions of love by talking about her perceptions of love and taking on new perspectives. Although the major structures in sonnets has persisted for four hundred years, Elizabeth takes unexpected twists at it, combined with various rhetorical skills, she creates an beautiful, abstract, vague and lyric world of her intense love to her husband, poet, Robert Browning.
ReplyDeleteReading through the poems, I was drawn to how the development of poetry has evolved throughout time. Beginning with the Italian Sonnet that has a very specific rhyme scheme with an opening octet and closing sestet, it evolved into the English/Shakespearean Sonnet, so poetry could be written in the English language that has couplets and a separate rhyme scheme. These sonnets follow a very specific pattern, and the flow of the words is very elegant. The later poems follow their own pattern and poems such as “God’s Secretary” have a more comedic feel. I was drawn to the poem “Shakespearean Sonnet” by R.S. Gwynn because each line though taken from a TV listing, I found poked fun at all of Shakespeare’s works. This was able to take its own form of poetry and see how it has evolved since Shakespeare wrote his sonnets.
ReplyDeletePoetry is my communism artwork. For me, Poetry is a neat thing to look at, a nice reprieve from regular prose. I like the way the words flow, but I have no idea why they work that way or how someone would go about writing such a thing. I find myself glazing over, overwhelmed by the amount of meaning packed into, for sonnets specifically, 14 lines. I appreciate how succinct the writing form is, how every word has thought poured into it. Specifically, I find myself drawn to “America” by Claude McKay, I find the way that he builds of the figure of America as a nourishing, almost maternal figure. I think it's super neat how McKay can build an argument not using facts and evidence, but using emotion and empathy. The fact that the whole thing rhymes and rolls of the tongue makes it all the more impressive. This style of argument is almost entirely foreign to me; I think the closest thing I could equate McKay's style of articulation to would be a historical, sad, and more racially driven slam poetry. Which, despite its name, I never really saw as poetry. The way he builds his assault on America is something I’ve never really seen before and in that way, it intrigues me. I was also intrigued by "Sonnet 43" by Elizabeth Barrett Browning. How hard is it to say “I love you a lot”? It interests me how much you can extrapolate a simple statement, how you can dissect this small sentence and make it a beautiful collaboration of words that ebbs and flows but ultimately ends up at the same place.
ReplyDeleteIn the post modernism "Shakespearean Sonnet," R.S. Gwynne summarizes the plots of Shakespearean works while following the english sonnet format. It’s impressive this poet has the courage to take the ideas of such a famous, respected writer and use them in their own sonnet. Today people are more impatient and like to take short cuts, even in literature, which usually takes away from the work as a whole. However, Gwynne was able to create a fresh perspective and draw emotion out of usually unpurposeful summaries of plot and titles. The Modernism and Postmodernism Sonnets speak more to me than the older sonnets, because it is in a language I am accustomed to. Through more experience with English Sonnets I want to learn to understand the language so I can fully grasp the purpose of them and form a connection to them. Although the style of Sonnets evolved greatly and will continue to evolve, we can still see the form of Shakespearean and Italian Sonnets carrying through every era.
ReplyDeleteI believe that the language and phrasing of sonnets do not determine its worth. I do tend to enjoy modernist and postmodernist sonnets as well. Their ideas are inspired by past sonnets but they bring in something refreshing. You get a taste of the old and the new. They are easily digestible and they do not undermine the work of their predecessors, only add on to them. The poem you mentioned reminds me of Margaret Atwood's "Happy Endings" in terms of the diction and style and I thoroughly enjoyed the both of them.
Delete"Sonnet 292" from the Canzoniere by Francisco Petrarch (translated by Anthony Mortimer) resonates with me out of all the poems and is unparalleled by its other translation. Before, poetry used to be another craft I practiced along with story-writing, drawing, and creating comics. later, I saw it as an inferior version of lyrical songs. I read this Italian sonnet and felt the nostalgia of my past adventures with poetry come back. At a glance, poetry seems to be a form that idealizes and romanticizes, or so I thought. There is no truth in it, only a certain feeling of motivation to attain that romance which ends with self-deprecation. But this poem, where a past love that
ReplyDelete"used to make this earth a paradise,
are now a little dust, all feeling gone;"
is realistic and I can personally connect. Humans and our ways of passing our days on Earth are temporary; they are fleeting desires and the best idea we could have to combat this internal nihilism is to move on. To reach that consensus within our heart and brain can be hard by ourselves, but poetry can help. An external voice of reason, free from a utopian pair of eyes can help sustain our inner balance rather than plant us on a never-ending hedonistic treadmill. That Italian Sonnet 292 gave me reason unlike the rest. Yes we could suppress a defeatist view of death according to Donne, Shakespeare may believe the internal definition of love may stay the same, and others yet may continue to preach the rest of their days as neo-Shakespeareans, but it is all fleeting in the end. We can have hope and aspirations sure, but we must prepare for when the sky falls too and be ready to move on.
I noticed most of the sonnets used a rhyme scheme; however, they used a variety of types. Some, like Sonnet 10, used ABBA, others, such as “America”, ABAB, and still others used AABB, like “Sunday Morning”. There were also a couple recurring themes, such as love and death. Sonnets 292, 116, and “America”, among others, all have the theme of love. Meanwhile, Sonnets 10, 43, and “Pity this busy monster, manunkind” all mention death in some capacity. I’m not sure if this was just me, but I thought a lot of the sonnets seemed to have a saddening effect on the reader as well.
ReplyDeleteYour last line really resonated with me. I find that a vast majority of the poems I read are somber or melancholy, but I have no idea why that is. Maybe, as an art form poems are more conducive to sad themes. Maybe a part of it is me; when I read a poem I start out in a reflective mindset so I am already expecting to be sad. This phenomenon, I think, makes happy poems all the more fun to read. I like the fact that happy poems defy convention.
Delete"Time does not bring relief..." by Edna St. Vincent Millay
ReplyDeleteTime does not bring relief; you all have lied
Who told me time would ease me of my pain!
I miss him in the weeping of the rain;
I want him at the shrinking of the tide;
The old snows melt from every mountain-side,
And last year's leaves are smoke in every lane;
But last year's bitter loving must remain
Heaped on my heart, and my old thoughts abide!
There are a hundred places where I fear
To go,--so with his memory they brim!
And entering with relief some quiet place
Where never fell his foot or shone his face
I say, "There is no memory of him here!"
And so stand stricken, so remembering him!
An interesting sonnet I found on Sonnet Central is Time does not bring relief by Edna St. Vincent Millay. This sonnet stuck out to me because despite being written in the 20th Century in the United States, it resembles more of a Petrarchan Sonnet rather than an English Sonnet due to its rhyme scheme. The poem’s rhyming pattern is ABBAABBCDEFFDE which is very similar to the traditional Petrarchan Sonnet. I also really liked this sonnet because the topic of heartbreak is so universal. Everyone at one point in their life has experienced heartbreak, whether it be a result of a break up, or the passing of a loved one, there are so many things that can lead to heartbreak that it is impossible to escape. In writing about a topic as universal as heartbreak, Millay was able to connect with a large variety of the population and really resonate with them. Millay also uses vivid imagery throughout the poem with lines such as “weeping of the rain” and “shrinking of the tide”. Each of these lines depicts actions that the author of the poem is going through as a result of this heartbreak. Instead of seeing the world how she normally does, Millay instead sees her own sadness and heartbreak everywhere she looks. Even when she tries to escape to “some quiet place” where she knows the man who broke her heart has not gone, and has not touched, all she can do is think of him. His presence and the hurt that has resulted because of this man permeates everything she touches and everywhere she goes.
DeleteAlright, sonnets are kind of my jam, jelly, butter, bouillon and sauce. I believe that the master poets who wrote sonnets are probably at the top tier of human understanding, sophistication, and can conceptualize the largest questions with answers of 140 syllables. John Donne has a special place in my heart because of his 10th sonnet in the collection of Holy Sonnets. It's listed above, so you can scroll on up to read it (very carefully).
ReplyDeleteI would first like to say that death terrifies me. It is one of the only things that stresses me to think about, because it is out of my control and I have no idea what happens after death. I say this so you, the reader, understands why this personally means a lot to me. It was the most encouraging thing reading this sonnet for the first time, seeing how John Donne can really write the most articulate and well rounded 17th century diss track on death.
There are great things to be said about the verse and syntax of the poem, with the true power coming in the punctuation. The last line states, "And death shall be no more, Death thou shalt die." You'll notice that there is a comma, a brief pause, that is in between the last verse of the poem. Now, I know we've discussed on why we shouldn't beat poems with a hose, but one cannot take anything as futile or unintentional when reading something as sophisticated as metaphysical poetry. This comma is intentional. If Donne wanted to be dramatic, or make an emphasis on how death is something that can be stopped entirely, he would have placed either a period or a semicolon. A stop, a pause between life and death. There is no semicolon or period there, however, there is a comma, a momentary and feeble separation. This is what separates life from life everlasting, in Donne's eyes. The play "Wit", by Margaret Edson, touches on this and did great deals as it taught me about Donne's true intentions. A significant quote in the play reads, "Nothing but a breath—a comma—separates life from life everlasting. It is very simple really. With the original punctuation restored, death is no longer something to act out on a stage, with exclamation points. It’s a comma, a pause."
Does it really get any better than that? The statement of how the only thing between life and death can be concisely expressed with a comma is truly thought provoking. Not to regurgitate from the point made in the play, but I thought it be very important for people to understand the true density of every little thing written in by poets who write sonnets; the true message could lie in the smallest and most minute character.
While your explanation and analysis is quite deep, I feel that sometimes a comma is just a comma.
DeleteI too am terrified of death as you said "I have no idea what happnes after death". I feel like evryone could relate to this feeling as the unknown is truly terrifying. I really enjoyed the fact that you described this sonnet as a "17th century diss track on death".
DeleteLeannette,
DeleteI'm glad you liked my description!
James,
DeleteI may be beating it with a hose, but you can never be too sure!
“A poem begins as a lump in the throat, a sense of wrong, a homesickness, a lovesickness.” - Robert Frost.
ReplyDeleteI have always loved poetry; I have loved writing it, reading it, listening to it. I think that poems are the truest form of storytelling because of how personal and raw they can be. I am shy to share my own poetry because of how private the majority of my pieces are, so I mainly write to decompress and to help sort out my emotions. I’ve always wanted to do spoken word as well, which I think is a very engaging form of presenting poetry.
I did notice while reading the selected poems that the majority of them are focused on the theme of love. Modern day love poems are normally very cliché, in my opinion. It might just be the use of older language, but the majority of the older poems are much more elegant. For example, "Sonnet 43" by Elizabeth Barrett Browning
How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of Being and ideal Grace.
The poem does rhyme, which normally might sound amateur and childish, but the poem is still sophisticated with its line breaks.
I do have a lot of questions about poetry. What I have always found fascinating is how poems are translated between languages. I always wonder: is there any meaning lost during the process? Would I connect more to a translated poem if I knew the original language and received it in its original form?
Two amazing English versions of "Sonnet 292" by Francisco Petrarch (translated by Anthony Mortimer) resonates with me. Translation 2 is straightforward and rhyming, while Anthony Mortimer's version has more rhetoric devices to strike a chord with readers. For example, "words that burn" (line 1) and "the angelic rays" (Line 6) are more vivid than "warmth" and "angelic smile." I also have a question in mind, "is there any meaning lost during the process?"
DeleteThe Sonnet that jumped out at me was “God’s Secretary” by R.S. Gwynn. I like how the poet compared people's prayers to emails. I like the line, “her outbox doesn’t get much use at all”, this is a reflection of people’s frustration with God, and how he does not answer their prayers. However, I did not think that this sonnet flowed as well as some of the other sonnets. I thought that “Sonnet 116” by William Shakespeare flowed exceptionally well compared to the others. Sonnet 16 is written iambic pentameter, with an ABABCDCDEFEFGG rhyme scheme. Another poem that stood out to me by its dark nature was “Sonnet 10” by John Donne. I see this sonnet as a recognition of the inevitability of death. The quote, “Death thou shalt die”, I believe is an expression of how death will never stop and will always be present in life.
ReplyDelete"Pity This Busy Monster, Manunkind" was the first poem to stand out to me as I read along, mostly because of its discomforting violation of the expected structure. While it the content of the poem was confusing, it did make me thing more of how structure and its intentional break affect artistic expression. My first comparison would be to intentionally dissonant music, where dissonance creates what might be perceived as an ugly sound. This can be used for any number of purposes; it can create tension to be released by harmony, or simply be a sort of statement by the composer. I also took interest in the way poetry changes and reacts to itself in the same way other art forms do, and sometimes moves with them like with the change to from classical to modern, to postmodern and etc.
ReplyDeleteI also found the concept of translating poetry interesting. Poetry looks very different depending on the language. In chinese, for instance, the syabarry is much smaller, and so a large variety of homophones and rhymes exist. Lines are shorter because instead of a word a single character is used, and each spoken character is one syllable. The main point is that the translator needs to take liberties with words to convey flow and meaning.
As I was reading the poem “Sunday Morning” by Louis MacNeice, I fell in love with the main theme which is, nothing lasts forever, so we have to live in the moment and for the moment. There were various symbols throughout the poem. Some of these symbols included sunday morning and ringing church bells. Sunday morning represents a person’s life, while the ringing church bells represent the looming threats on a person’s life. Yet again, someone else might have read this poem and taken a completely different meaning from it. I wouldn’t classify myself as a poem lover, but I do appreciate poems as I cross among them. Poems have hidden meanings/messages behind them and those meanings/messages vary from person to person. This is what makes poems so interesting. There is not one correct analyzation of the poem, and understanding the different perspectives and comparing it to that of yours is something admirable. Trying to analyze a poem and trying to figure out the various meanings/messages in them is something I truly enjoy.
ReplyDeleteThe power of words is a defiantly a strong theme through pretty much every single English classes I’ve experienced. There is something to be said about the profound effect just little insidious phrases have upon humans and society as a whole. The sonnet “A Hero,” by Evan Mantyk speaks to this occurrence, mentioning that “are spears of truth that no one can outrun.” This is interesting because despite government crackdowns on Falun Gong in China, the movement still has millions of followers and lives on in Taiwan and Hong Kong, where Beijing doesn’t have absolute control. The title of the sonnet “A Hero,” describes those who spread the written word, those who persevere in face of challenge. Though the thought behind Falun Gong is similar to a very decentralized cult, “he Falun Gong man now before you stands, / A hero for all times and for all lands.” Just because someone’s viewpoint isn’t the same as one’s own, it takes a great deal of courage to stand up for what one believes. There is something admirable about an individual rejecting what society and government is telling them and forging their own path forwards.
ReplyDeleteMantyk also discusses how “these poisoned lips of Socrates destined / to die, and yet in virtue ever dwell.” It is true that Socrates was executed, but his words didn’t, and are still studied worldwide. It is very difficult for governments to eradicate what they do not like, as humans have a history of telling stories by word of mouth, something that the species did before many became literate.
This sonnet talks of various body parks and items that a human might wear, from shoes, to legs to lips to banner, and then ends on a man, a sum of all these parts. This contributes to the meaning, for there exists history behind each person, and actions that have been performed that exude bravery in multiple forms. Being brave doesn’t necessity have to be “Spartan men
/ Outnumbered by a thousand foes to one.” It can be people who are in the worst of situations, but stand tall and bear the pain, like “the slave’s strong legs like trunks that grew
/ /And worked so hard until he’s beaten dead.”