Writing 2: Poetry Form & Freedom

8/14/2019 Writing 2: Poetry Form & Freedom

1/34


2/34

Writing 2: Poetry- Form & Freedom

Written by:

Nigel McLoughlin


3/34

Open College of the Arts

Michael Young Arts Centre

Redbrook Business Park

Wilthorpe Road

Barnsley S75 1JN

Telephone: 0800 731 2116

E-mail: [email protected]

www.oca-uk.com

Registered charity number: 327446

Copyright OCA 2005. Revised 2006

Document Control Number: Document1

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or

transmitted in any form or by any means - electronic, mechanical, photocopy,

recording or otherwise - without prior permission of the publisher

(Open College of the Arts)

OCA is a company limited by guarantee and registered in England under number2125674.


4/34

Registered Office, Open College of the Arts, Michael Young Arts Centre, Unit 1B,Redbrook Business Park, Wilthorpe Road, Barnsley, S75 1JN, United Kingdom

About the author

Nigel McLoughlin holds an MA with distinction in Creative Writing (Poetry) and

a PhD in Creative Writing both from Lancaster University. He has been a

Creative Writing tutor for over 8 years, working with all levels of students from

absolute beginners to those completing their MA degrees. He has also been

involved in design and development of Creative Writing programmes up to MA

level working with a number of third-level institutions. He co-edited Breaking The

Skin in 2002 an anthology of new Irish writers published in 2 volumes by Black

Mountain Press. He has 3 collections of his own poems in print:

At The Waters Clearing, 2001 (Flambard & Black Mountain Presses)

Songs For No Voices, 2004 (Lagan Press)

Blood, 2005 (bluechrome)

His work has appeared in many literary journals and anthologies in Ireland, the

UK and abroad. He has won or been short-listed for a number of major poetry

prizes, and gives readings of his own work. He is a Fellow of the RSA.


5/34

Contents

Introduction

Aspects of the course

What are the aims of the course?

What does the course offer?

What is expected of the student?

Is supplementary work required?

You and your tutor

Your timetable

What can the student expect to gain?

On completing the course

Project and tutorial plan

1: The sonnet

The history of the sonnet

The Petrarchan sonnet

Project 1: writing a Petrarchan sonnetThe Shakespearian sonnet

Project 2: writing the Shakespearian/Spenserian sonnets

Variants on the sonnet form

Project 3: a sequence of sonnets

Assignment 1

2: Terza rima, villanelles & terzanelle

The history of the forms

Terza rima

Project 4: the terza rima

Villanelle

Project 5: writing villanelles


6/34

Terzanelle

Project 6: writing a terzanelle

Assignment 2

3: Sestina, pantoum, rondeau & others


The sestina

Project 7: mapping and writing sestinas

The pantoum

The rondeau

Project 8: writing a pantoum and a rondeau

Other minor formsProject 9: writing a rondel, triolet and kyrielle

Assignment 3

4: Ballads, ballades & odes


The ballad

Project 10: writing balladsThe ballade

Project 11: writing ballades

The ode

Project 12: writing a Pindaric or homostrophic ode

Assignment 4

5: Blank verse, syllabics & free verse


Blank verse

Project 13: writing blank verse

Syllabics

Project 14: writing syllabic poems


7/34

Free verse

Project 15: writing free verse poems

Assignment 5

Appendix A: if you plan to submit your work for formal

assessment

Appendix B: glossary

Appendix C: reference books

Appendix D: the Learning Journal


8/34

Introduction

This course is designed to allow the student access to the major set forms, which

are used in the writing of poetry, and to give the student an indication of the

wide variety of forms available to him or her. The course will also concentrate on

the major features of each form showing clearly how each form is constructed

and teaching the student both to imitate and to play with the form.

Over the duration of the course the student will learn the rules and disciplines

that apply to each form but they will also learn how and when to break theserules in an artful manner. This will help the student in their search for their own

poetic voice and help them to find their own position within (or outside) the

poetic traditions which have been inherited. The student will also become aware

that free verse is in fact yet another of those traditions with rules and practices

of its own.

By the time the student has completed the course they will have gained an

extensive grasp of all forms and varieties of poetry both from their own practical

experience through writing and from the worked examples given in the lessons.

This should give the student a more open approach to poetry and help them

recognise work that is good of its type.

Finally, by the time the student has completed the course, they will have a fairly

extensive body of work completed, which can be assessed or submitted for

publication or both. The student will also have a solid foundation for their future

writing and, I hope, a clearer idea of their own poetic voice and direction.


9/34

Aspects of the course

What are the aims of the course?

The chief aim of the course is to help you write better poems. At the same time,

the course should increase your understanding and enjoyment of good poetry

old and new, as you discover different ways of looking at poems and develop

your understanding of poetic techniques and traditions. It will provide you with

the elements of a critical vocabulary, and help you towards a flexible and

informed use of language.

What does the course offer?

This course offers one-to-one tutoring, by correspondence, by a practising poet

who will have a good record of publication and considerable teaching

experience. The tutor will be both a guide and a constructive critic. (Some tutors

may be happy to use e-mail with attachments, others not.)

The course provides the plan of study and much of the teaching material. Both

student and tutor will use it as the foundation of the work that is done. The body

of the course is divided into 5 core sections, corresponding to the 5 assignments

each student will produce.

Each of the sections discusses essential elements of poetry, with examples, and

considers whats involved in writing poems: what you need to think about,

study and do. Each section offers projects, which aim to direct your activity morespecifically and lead to the production of an assignment. The projects suggested

will help in the development of a variety of skills. While there is much freedom

to follow personal inclination in the content of assignments, you are encouraged

to focus in each on different aspects of poetic form.


10/34

In addition, there are Appendices which enlarge on earlier material and offer

suggestions on further reading. How far you use them will depend on prior

knowledge, interests and available time.

A word about what the course does not offer - it is not designed to provide direct

help with getting work into print. However, your tutor may encourage you to

seek publication when your work reaches an appropriate level.

What is expected of the student?

The course is to be completed within 2 years. During that time, you will send 5

assignments to the tutor, each consisting, to begin with, of about 6 poems of not

more than 30 lines each. (The tutor may give guidance about submitting longer

pieces of work later on.)

Along with the poems, you will send a commentary on the writing process, so

that the tutor can learn more about the thinking that has gone into each poem,

and be helped to know what advice to give. Drafts and practice exercises are not

sent unless they are asked for, but some of their outcomes may be discussed in

the commentary.

The tutor will return assignments within 10 days with a written critique of the

poems and a discussion of important points arising from them and from the

commentary. You can expect the tutors remarks to be both critical and

constructive.

In the light of the tutors comments and recommendations, you will redraft one

or two of the poems and submit them along with new work in the nextassignment. This redrafting is a crucial part of the whole writing process.

Is supplementary work required?


11/34

You are strongly advised to keep anotebook. (Lots of poems really do begin on

the proverbial back of an envelope, but something more durable is a good idea.)

It is useful to start a commonplace book; and you are expected to keep a

Learning Journal to record and support the work as it is done.

The notebook

The purpose of the notebook is to record observations, phrases, potential subject

matter anything to stop the germ of a poem from getting lost. Poems have

much in common with dreams: the fragments from which they develop are often

so vivid that you are convinced you will not forget them but you will!

Somehow you must catch them by the tail, and a notebook and pen to hand

makes the best trap.

The commonplace book

This old-fashioned title describes a valuable adjunct to your learning and

thinking. In it you will record extracts from other peoples work. If something

you read or hear makes you prick up your ears, store it in this book. Its a good

place to record proverbs and sayings that interest you, paradoxes and

contradictions, aphorisms and so on: whatever stimulates thought.

The Learning Journal

Your Learning Journal is intended to provide a comprehensive record of your

experience of the course. In it you will store drafts, correspondence, a copy of

your Student Profile, tutorial reports and revisions of your work. A detailed

account of its use and how to maintain it is set out at the end of the course

materials as Appendix D. You should consult it closely before proceeding. The

Learning Journal is important to all students since it tightens the cycle of

feedback between you and your tutor, but it is a vital component of the course

for all students opting for graded assessment of their work, and regular periods

of time should be set aside to maintain it.


12/34

It is impossible, in a course of this length, to give even an outline of the history of

English poetry; yet the developing poet needs to know as much as possible about

it, if only to avoid endlessly trying to invent the wheel! The appendices suggest

some further reading and it is much to be hoped that you will find time to

explore parts of it. Your enjoyment of poetry will certainly be enhanced in the

process.

The Assignment Commentary

When sending your work to your tutor, you should include an accompanying

account, which we call an Assignment Commentary. This is a formal term, but it

does not mean that the commentary has to be formal in style. Think of it as a

personal letter from you to your tutor, which offers your response to theexperience of writing your assignment.

Try to give your commentary a clear structure. While there are no rules about

what it may contain, you may wish to consider the following:

how you set about the exercises which led to the writing of your

assignment, and how useful you found them

your choice of subject matter

how you tackled the drafting process

how each poem changed in the drafting

how far the finished piece measures up to your expectations, and where in

particular you think it falls short

where, and how, you found it appropriate to follow your tutors advice

guidance you might need in further redrafting and development.

It is worth taking time and trouble over your commentary, since it will help your

tutor to understand what you are aiming to do, how far his/her comments had

been helpful to you and how best to guide you in the future.


13/34

Submitting your work: a checklist

use A4 paper

type your work if you possibly can

make sure your name and student number are marked at the top

send 2 copies of your poems unless your tutor requests otherwise

include your Assignment Commentary

keep a copy in your Learning Journal of all the work you send

enclose a stamped addressed envelope for the return of your work (unless

you are outside the UK).

You and your tutor

Even though you will be working from home, you won't do so in isolation. You

will have the opportunity to get in touch with your tutor regularly by post when

you send in your assignments. Each tutor is a working writer who will

understand the problems and difficulties of getting started and keeping going,

and will offer help and advice throughout the course.

Your tutor will guide you through each assignment and comment on the work

and correspondence that you will send in each month. The tutor may wellsuggest exercises and projects that are not given in the course and you are free to

pursue your own ideas, providing that you let your tutor know what you have in

mind. Whatever you decide to write, you should stick broadly to the sequence of

exercises in the course. It has been written so that one section builds upon

another, establishing a process of learning and experimentation.

Tutors may differ in their attitudes towards redrafted work: some like to see it,

others do not. One or two redrafted pieces, submitted along with your next

assignment, may help the tutor to grasp how far you have understood the

criticisms made of the original; but I suggest that you ask your tutor what is

required of you. In any case, expect briefer comments on a redrafted poem than

on new work.


14/34

While you will be in regular contact with your tutor, please bear in mind that all

tutors are making their living as writers, and therefore may be too busy always

to respond to you very quickly. Student work is normally returned within 14

days; contact your tutor if this period is exceeded without notice. Please do not

send to your tutor any work other than that done as part of the course, unless he

or she has agreed to look at it for you.

Please discuss with your tutor any problems that may arise. Student Services at

OCA can be contacted if there are problems that cannot be sorted out directly.

Making a start

As soon as you have finished reading this introduction, you should send off your

completed Student Profile form to your tutor in the envelope provided. Your

tutor will also be contacting you with an introductory letter and will suggest a

date by which the first assignment should be completed; but do not wait until

you hear from your tutor before making a start.

You will need to spend the first few weeks working through the introductory

parts of this course (I suggest that you do no more than skim later sections at thispoint) and working on the section that leads to your first assignment. There is

more to be done in it than may at first appear, so dont rush.

A good anthology is invaluable for the pleasure of dipping' as well as for closer

study. It will be useful and appropriate at this stage to start exploring such

an anthology. Staying Alive from Bloodaxe Books would be a very good choice to

begin with (you may already have this if you have done Poetry 1). You could

begin by having a look at the 12 themes in the list of contents, choose a couple of

those that interest you, and read some of the poems under those headings whose

titles appeal. Don't expect to like everything you read! However, I hope you will

keep an open mind about any poems that you find puzzling or distasteful, and

perhaps make a note of them in your Learning Journal along with the details of


15/34

poems you like. Especially if you are familiar with poetry of a traditional kind,

you may find some modern work an acquired taste, but it is worth persevering.

As with listening to modern music, your ear and your mind need time to adjust;

but there is a chance here of extending the range of your pleasures.

Your timetable

The course should take you at least 6 months, but may well take considerably

longer. You have up to 2 years to complete. We do not wish to be too specific

about the course duration and study hours, since all students work in different

ways and at different rates; but you should aim to spend at least 7 hours a week

working through the suggested projects and assignments in this manual and

longer, up to 10 hours a week, if you are considering having your work assessed

formally at the end of the course (see Appendix A). If you opt for assessment, you

will need to spend a considerable amount of extra time redrafting work for your

assessment folio.

The more time you spend trying out different ideas the better, but it's very

important to set yourself a regular timetable which takes into account all your

other commitments. Almost every writer tries to maintain some sort of regular

routine - starting work at more or less the same time whenever possible and

setting aside so many hours each day for it. Don't become a slave to routine

though, and don't be afraid to break a pattern that clearly isn't working for you.

It's hard to feel impulsively creative every day of the week, but you should get in

the habit of using your notebooks regularly for observational or reflective

writing, of maintaining your commonplace book by pasting in articles or cuttings

and of making sure that your Learning Journal is up to date. Many of theseactivities will provide the raw material for later writing.

Time may be profitably spent if you can strike up a relationship with another

writer to whom you can show your work. (Family and friends, however, may not

be your most valuable critics.) Find out if there is a writers group in your area,


16/34

and if there is, attend two or three meetings to discover if it provides what you

need; but be tough about discontinuing if it doesnt. No use if the blind are

leading the blind, or if the members are not looking for constructive criticism.

What can the student expect to gain?

This question leads back to the stated aims of writing better and understanding

poetry more fully; but that is not all. You will find that entering into this study

will enhance your powers of observation, of the external world, but of your

internal world too. You will find that you become more aware of your ways of

working and of your capacities. You will deepen your knowledge of language.

Its to be hoped that you will have a better comprehension of your likes and

dislikes, and possibly a rewarding appreciation of things you were not familiar

with before or did not expect to enjoy. You will most likely have clearer ideas of

what you do and dont want to do next about your writing. Its not an

advertising boast to claim that your life will be fuller.

By the end of the course you could expect to have:

kept a notebook and a commonplace book which will provide both a

source of ideas and a record of your thinking

maintained a Learning Journal

built poems structured around set forms

written at least 40 poems on a range of subjects and in different styles

experimented with a variety of forms and further developed technical

expertise

learned how to further improve your work through redrafting

further developed your understanding of style and vocabulary

further explored some powerful themes and issues learned to present your manuscripts as an editor would wish to see them

further extended your knowledge and appreciation of the work of other

poets.


17/34

On completing the course

A certificate at the end of the course

OCA issues a certificate at the end of its courses. This is the Record of Completion,

which is issued on the recommendation of tutors to all students who finish a

course and who show evidence of progress.

The OCA Award

A second certificate is available for those who want or need something which

indicates the level of their achievement, and is called the OCA Award. This is

graded from A to D, and you will need to notify the OCA office if you wish to be

assessed for the Award - see Appendix A for further details.

Going further

Many students find that, after the initial euphoria of completing their course,

they start to get withdrawal feelings - missing the interest, excitement, even

discipline of a regular learning programme. Some decide that they would like to

carry on learning for sheer pleasure or personal development, others realise that

they would like to work towards a career or academic qualifications.

This course can be an ideal starting point for one of OCAs many other courses,

which can be studied without prior qualifications. Some carry university

accreditation, which can be put towards university qualifications (degree, Dip

HE, Cert HE). Many students successfully use the portfolio of work, produced

during their courses, to gain direct entry to college/university and sometimes

onto MA courses.

There are several other OCA Creative Writing courses at Levels 1, 2 and 3.

Whether you want further time to decide on the subject area on which to

concentrate, or if you have already decided on a specialism, OCA has a course to

meet your needs. Full details are given in OCAs Guide to Courses.


18/34

If you are interested in gaining an academic qualification, you will need to

achieve the following:

Certificate in Higher Education

120 credit points at Level 1

Diploma in Higher Education


plus 120 credit points at Level 2

BA in Creative Arts




Credit points can be obtained by achieving pass grades when your work is

assessed. Further details are given in the Assessment and Accreditation section of

the Student Handbook and in Appendix A.

However, it must be emphasised that if you want to write just for pleasure or

even if your aim is to write as a career, you dont have to have your work

formally assessed.

OCA also offers courses in: Painting (including Watercolour), Drawing, Art &

Design, Textiles, Art History, Dance, Garden/Interior Design, Photography

(including Digital), Camcorder, Singing, Composing Music, Calligraphy,

Sculpture and Creative Digital Arts.

For further information see OCA: Guide to Courses or phone 01226 730 495.


19/34

Project and tutorial plan

Send your Student Profile straight away and speak to your tutor by phone

before you start work on the course.

Approx. time

in hours

1: The sonnet

Project 1: writing a Petrarchan sonnet20

Project 2: writing the Shakespearian/Spenserian sonnets20

Project 3: a sequence of sonnets20

Assignment 1 40Send your 1st Assignment to your tutor

2: Terza rima, villanelles & terzanelle

Project 4: the terza rima20

Project 5: writing villanelles20

Project 6: writing a terzanelle20

Assignment 2

40Send your 2nd Assignment to your tutor

3: Sestina, pantoum, rondeau & others

Project 7: mapping and writing sestinas20

Project 8: writing a pantoum and a rondeau20

Project 9: writing a rondel, triolet and kyrielle20

Assignment 340

Send your 3rd Assignment to your tutor

4: Ballads, ballades & odes

Project 10: writing ballads20

Project 11: writing ballades20

Project 12: writing a Pindaric or homostrophic ode20


20/34

Assignment 440

Send your 4th Assignment to your tutor

5: Blank verse, syllabics & free verse

Project 13: writing blank verse 20Project 14: writing syllabic poems

20Project 15: writing free verse poems

20Assignment 5

40Send your 5th Assignment to your tutor

Reading / logbook Time100

TOTAL TIME600


21/34

1: The sonnet

The history of the sonnet

The sonnet form was imported into English letters from the Italian somewhere

around the start of the 1500s. Since then it has been in constant use by poets and

is still one of the most favoured lyric forms to work in today. It is generally

agreed that sonnet comes from the Italian sonetto, a short strain (literally, a little

song). It was originally a poem recited with musical accompaniment. As to its

first birthplace there is some uncertainty: it has been asserted to have been a

native of Provence, but it is generally acknowledged that the 2 main variants in

the form trace their origins from Petrarca and Shakespeare.

Francesco Petrarca is usually credited with having introduced lyric poetry in

Europe. His collection of Italian verses, Rime in vita e morta di Madonna Laura

(after 1327), translated into English as Petrarch's Sonnets, are said to be inspired

by Petrarca's passion for Laura, a young woman Petrarca first saw in church on

Good Friday 1327 and who died on the same day 21 years later. Petrarca is

considered the first modern poet because of his interest in individuality, reflected

in his sonnet series. Petrarca wrote 365 sonnets, many of them dedicated to

Laura. The exact relationship of Petrarca to the historical Laura remains

uncertain but it is believed that she was a married woman with whom Petrarca

was infatuated and to whom he composed the sonnets as an act of courtly love.

It was common for poets to worship the object of their love from afar, especially

as she may be married or otherwise socially unattainable.

Sir Thomas Wyatt is widely accredited with having brought the forms of the

Italian Renaissance (including the sonnet) into use in English. He translated

widely from the Italian writers, including Petrarch and a generation later Sir

Phillip Sydney produced the sonnet sequence Astrophel and Stella using Petrarch

as a model to work from rather than as material for translation. At this stage

there was much variation in the rhyme schemes which were used but it was to be


22/34

in the hands of Shakespeare that one of these sonnet forms was to achieve more

dominance and was eventually to be referred to as the Shakespearian sonnet as

opposed to the form that it had evolved out of which became known as the

Petrarchan sonnet.

Over the course of the next three hundred years the sonnet found favour in the

hands of writers as varied as John Donne and other metaphysicians, the

romantics such as Keats and Shelley and Victorian writers like the two Rossettis

and Gerard Manley Hopkins. It is important to remember that the sonnet did not

stop there. It has evolved and been used throughout the 20th century and is still

being used innovatively today we need only think of Heaneys Glanmore

Sonnets to assure ourselves that the form is alive and well.

Over the course of its history the sonnet has changed, different parts within its

structure became more or less important there were unrhymed sonnets, tailed

sonnets (15/16 lines) curtailed sonnets (12/13 lines) and sonnets which had

metrically uneven or metrically short lines. The development has been constant

and it has not been restricted to the modern period. The Shakespearian sonnet, as

we said, evolved out of one variety of Petrarchan sonnet. Gerard Manly Hopkins

experimented in various ways with the form in the 1870s and 1880s.

In this lesson we will be taking a close look at examples of all of these types but

lets start at the beginning and look at the basic types first. Historically speaking

that means starting with the Petrarchan sonnet.


23/34

The Petrarchan sonnet

The 5 basic features of the Petrarchan sonnet are as follows:

it consists of 14 lines it is split into an octave (8 lines) and a sestet (6 lines)

it has a volta or a classic turn

it is metrically regular (usually iambic pentameter)

it has a formal rhyme scheme.

In order to demonstrate each of these features properly I will be using an

example (in this case Sibylla Palmifera by Dante Gabriel Rossetti)

Sibylla Palmifera (For a Picture)

Under the arch ofLife, where love and death

Terror and mystery, guard hershrine, I saw

Beauty enthroned; and though hergaze struck awe,

I drew it in as simply as my breath.

Hers are the eyes which, over and beneath,

The sky and seabend on thee, which can draw,

By sea orsky orwoman, to onelaw,The allotted bondman of herpalm and wreath

This is that Lady Beauty, in whosepraise

Thy voice and hand shake still, long known tothee

By flying hairand fluttering hem, the beat

Following herdaily ofthy heart and feet,

Howpassionately and irretrievably

In what fond flight, how many ways and days !

Dante Gabriel Rossetti

One can see immediately that there are 14 lines in the poem, which are split

between 2 stanzas one of 8 lines and one of 6 lines. It has a volta or classic turn,

which means the characteristic transition point between the octave and sestet.

There is a difference of poetic viewpoint, which can be found, between the


24/34

octave and the sestet and it has a clear rhyme scheme as evidenced by the

highlighted words. This is normally written as follows:

ABBACBBC - ABCCBA

As for the metrics, the poem is basically written in iambic pentameter but it is not

regular (very few sonnets actually are - even Shakespeare allowed variation in

metre). The reason for such variation is that if you have endless repetition of a

stress off stress on pattern (which is what iambic means) then it becomes very

monotonous and boring for the listener.

The line: Thy voice and hand shake still, long known tothee

is perfect iambic pentameter. The stressed syllables are shown in red.

However all of the lines can be read as having 10 syllables with 5 stresses and so

the variation is achieved by direct substitution of stressed syllables for unstressed

ones and vice versa. This gives a feeling of regularity to the line even though it is

technically irregular in the type of metrical foot used.

Ozymandias

I met a traveler from an antique land

Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs ofstone

Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand,

Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,

And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,

Tell that its sculptor well those passions read,

Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,

The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed,

And on the pedestal these words appear:

"My name is Ozymandias, King ofKings:Look upon my works, ye Mighty, anddespair!"

Nothing beside remains. Round the decay

Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare

The lone and level sands stretch faraway.

Percy Bysshe Shelley


25/34

In the above example by Shelley one can see that although the poem is not

physically divided by the volta or classic turn. It does occur in lines 8 and 9. It is

not as sharp as the Rossetti example but the viewpoint most definitely changes

from the physical description to deal with the double irony of the lines engraved

on the ruined monument. It becomes a double irony because when they were

first carved the mighty should despair at never being able to equal the

magnificence of the new monument. However the lines have now taken on the

meaning that the mighty should despair because all works no matter how

magnificent will fall into ruin. The irony is, of course, doubled in that the piece of

art which gives us that very message i.e. the poem Ozymandias has not decayed

and is still read.

Despite the fact that the Shelley example is unsplit and that the turn is somewhatless clearly defined, and the rhyme scheme includes 2 examples of off-rhyme, it

is clear that both poems fulfill all the basic requirements of the Petrarchan sonnet

and are clearly recognisable as such. As we look at more examples and observe

the differences between sonnets you will get the hang of identifying the volta or

classic turn and the rhyme schemes in them, so dont worry of you havent got

the hang of it all quite yet.

Try this yourself. In the next example match up the rhymes, identify the rhymescheme, find out if the rhythm is regular and try to identify where the volta or

classic turn occurs.


26/34

From Sonnets from the Portuguese XLIII

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 sightFor the ends of Being and ideal Grace.

I love thee to the level of every days

Most quiet need, by sun and candlelight.

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 childhoods 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.

Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Project 1: writing a Petrarchan sonnet

Robert Frost said, if you want to say something for eight lines and take it back for six,write a sonnet. Write 2 sonnets. In the first you should try to stick as closely as

possible to the classic guidelines for a Petrarchan sonnet, and in the second try to

experiment with the form. Use the following themes as a guideline, or you can

make up your own:

a love poem to a partner.

the secret life of.(an animal of some kind)

write about the aftermath of a battle in sonnet form.


27/34

The Shakespearian sonnet

The Shakespearian sonnet has the following 5 features:

1. it has 14 lines2. it is split into 3 quatrains (verses of 4 lines) and a 2 line couplet

3. the couplet tends to form an epigrammatic close that is, it tends to sum

up what has been said in the previous 12 lines of the poem

4. it generally has a regular rhyme scheme

5. it tends to have a regular metre usually iambic pentameter.

In order to demonstrate these features we will use worked examples - where

better to start than with a sonnet from Shakespeare himself.

Sonnet 18

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?

Thou art more lovely and more temperate:

Rough winds do shake the darling buds ofMay,

And summer's lease hath all too short a date:

Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,

And often is his gold complexion dimmed:

And every fair from fair sometime declines,

By chance, or nature's changing course untrimmed;

But thy eternal summer shall not fade,

Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st,

Nor shall death brag thou wander'st in his shade,

When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st;

So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,

So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

William Shakespeare

As can be seen from the above there is a very strict and regular rhyme scheme

and apart from some metrical ambiguity in the first line the metre is iambic

pentameter. Go through the rest of the poem following the stressed and

unstressed pattern that lines 2, 3 and 4 set up (stressed syllables are shown in


28/34

bold print for the first 4 lines) do you notice anything? Do all the lines fit the

same pattern exactly? If they dont can you suggest reasons why?

Can you see how the rhyme scheme helps to split the poem into three sets of 4

lines with a couplet at the end? Do you see how Shakespeare uses the last 2 lines

to sum up the reason for writing the poem?

Remember we talked in the last section about variations in the iambic line.

Shakespeare was very adept in the use of iambic pentameter both in his poems

and his plays but he did use variation where necessary, where the rhythm would

otherwise interfere with the sense of the line for example.

Take the first line:

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?

This may be stressed a number of ways for example:

ShallIcompare thee to a summer's day? Is the strictly iambic version but it

sounds funny when you try to say it out loud. Try reading this with stress on the

red syllables. One doesnt normally expect stress on to.

ShallIcomparethee to a summer's day? This is possible if the question is being

asked directly as in Do you want me to compareyou to a summers day?

ShallIcompare thee to a summer's day? Which would be more in keeping with

Can Icompareyou to a summers day?

You have to make up your own mind as to which is the most natural.

Shakespeare was aware of this and allowed a certain amount of flexibility in hismetres to compensate and to give a more natural feel to them.

Shakespeare uses rhyme and changes in the rhyme scheme particularly to

separate the quatrains (4-line units) from each other without having to physically

split the poem. He also uses the punctuation for the same purpose. Note when


29/34

he uses the semi-colon (;) to give a long pause at the ends of lines 8 and 12 while

also breaking the sense at these points notice also how the colon (:) at line 4

does the same job.

The following is another variation of the sonnet, which has been called aSpenserian sonnet after Edmund Spenser who is said to have originated the

form. The example is by Edmund Spenser himself.

Sonnet I

Happy ye leaves! whenas those lily hands,

Which hold my life in their dead doing might,

Shall handle you, and hold in love's soft bands,

Like captives trembling at the victor's sight.And happy lines! on which, with starry light,

Those lamping eyes will deign sometimes to look,

And read the sorrows of my dying sprite,

Written with tears in heart's close bleeding book.

And happy rhymes! bathed in the sacred brook

Of Helicon, whence she derived is,

When ye behold that angel's blessed look,

My soul's long lacked food, my heaven's bliss.

Leaves, lines, and rhymes seek her to please alone,Whom if ye please, I care for othernone.

Edmund Spenser

This variant on the sonnet is distinguished by its interlocking rhyme scheme.

This type of sonnet can occur with physical splits in the verse either into two 7-

line stanzas rhymed ABABBCB CCDCDEE or split like a normal Shakespearian

sonnet into ABAB BCBC CDCD EE. In the above example it may be very

conveniently split into a normal Shakespearian pattern due to the full stops after

lines 4, 8 and 12. You could argue that the Spenserian sonnet offers a halfway

house between the Petrarchan sonnet and the Shakespearian sonnet, and this

would be no surprise given Spensers historical position between Petrarch and

Shakespeare. However. The fact that the form has a closing couplet and can be


30/34

split in the Shakespearian fashion perhaps suggests a closer relation to the

Shakespearian sonnet.

Have another look at Shakespeares Sonnet 18 and Spensers Sonnet Iabove - is

there any evidence of a volta or classic turn in either of them? How do you think

Spensers sonnet compares to Shakespeares with regard to song-like qualities?

(remember sonnet originally meant little song).

Project 2: writing the Shakespearian /

Spenserian sonnet

Write 2 sonnets. In the first use the Shakespearian or Spenserian sonnet as a

model and stick as closely as you can to it. In the second sonnet feel free to

experiment with the form. Use the following themes as a guideline, or make up

your own:

the birth or expected birth of a child.

a love poem to an unattainable partner

the existence or non-existence of a higher power or deity.


31/34

Variants on the sonnet form:

The Tailed or Caudate SonnetThe example below from John Milton is a fine example of the form which

extends the sonnet by either three or six lines.

On the New Forcers of Conscience Under the Long ParliamentBecause you have thrown off your Prelate Lord,

And with stiff vows renounc'd his Liturgy,

To seize the widowed whore Plurality

From them whose sin ye envied, not abhorred,

Dare you for this adjure the civil sword

To force our consciences that Christ set free,

And ride us with a Classic Hierarchy,

Taught ye by mere A.S. and Rutherford?

Men whose life, learning, faith, and pure intent,

Would have been held in high esteem with Paul

Must now be named and printed heretics

By shallow Edwards and Scotch What-d'ye-call.

But we do hope to find out all yourtricks,Your plots and packing, worse than those ofTrent,

That so the Parliament

May with their wholesome and preventative shears

Clip your phylacteries, though baulk yourears,

And succor our just fears,

When they shall read this clearly in yourcharge:

New Presbyter is but old Priest writ large.

John Milton

If we analyse the form above we can see that the basic sonnet structure is still

present. The first fourteen lines consist of a petrarchan sonnet. The octet consists

of a question and the volta at line eight is where the poem changes tack to

provide a meditation on the question. The rhyme scheme is as follows:

The octet is ABBAABBA and the sestet is ABCBCA. The tail is the six lines which


32/34

follow the sestet and begin with the short line That so the Parliament. The tail,

as in the case above, usually begins with a line which rhymes with the last line of

the sestet. There then follows a couplet which in the case of a three line tail will

close off the poem much in the same manner as the Shakespearian version. In the

case above, there is a six line tail. This is brought about by repeating the process

for tailing. A short line which rhymes with the line directly above it is added and

followed by another couplet. The effect, as can be seen above is to create a triplet.

Musically this can be a very unified form especially given the number of couplets

present. For this reason perhaps, Milton rhymes the sestet avoiding couplets and

this gives the effect that the first eight lines of the poem are very musically

unified which helps bind the question, which has been formulated over eight

lines, together. The sestet is looser, perhaps musically signifying the dissent and

discord that Milton speaks about, while the end of the poem is musically unified

again as Milton works towards his memorable close.

The Curtailed Sonnet

The following is a sonnet by Gerard Manley Hopkins. It is rather an unusual one.

In this sonnet Hopkins experiments with the form by shortening both the octave

and the sestet in proportion to form what has been called a curtailed sonnet.Look at it for yourself and decide what features of the sonnet are still present.

What is it, do you think, that makes a sonnet a sonnet?


33/34

Pied Beauty

Glory be to God for dappled things--

For skies of couple-colour as a brinded cow;

For rose-moles all in stipple upon trout that swim;

Fresh-firecoal chestnut-falls; finches' wings;Landscape plotted and pieced--fold, fallow, and plough;

And ll trades, their gear and tackle and trim.

All things counter, original, spre, strange;

Whatever is fickle, freckld (who knows how?)

With swft, slw; sweet, sur; adzzle, dm;

He fathers-forth whose beauty is pst change:

Prise hm.

Gerard Manley Hopkins

Remember as you read this that Hopkins worked to his own metrical system

called Sprung Rhythm. Sprung rhythm may best be thought of in musical

terms. If one considers a line of poetry as equivalent to the musical bar, then

each bar can hold a certain number of notes or in the case of a line of poetry a

certain number of stresses. Hopkins took this as the basis for his metrics in

sprung rhythm saying that it no longer mattered how many unstressed syllables

were present in the line since one is only counting the stresses. The result is that

Hopkins lines have a crowded and breathless feel as he bounds over several

consecutive unstressed syllables to get to his stress or as the line jams 2, 3 or 4

consecutive stresses up against each other.

Notice also the complex rhyme scheme used which is reminiscent of Spensers

interlocking rhymes. The effect of this was, of course, to concentrate the musical

attributes of the sonnet just as he had concentrated the form. This suited the use

he put the sonnet to perfectly, which was an ecstatic visionary praise. How doesthe volta or classic turn fit in with this?

Other forms that might be of interest are the crown of sonnets, where there is a

series of sonnets each beginning with the closing line from the last. This is a


34/34

striking use of the form and excellent examples may be found in John Donnes

Corona and Lady Mary Wroths A Crown of Sonnets Dedicated To Love.

There is also a double sonnet form which is rare in English and consists of two

petrarchan sonnets with an additional volta between them. Elizabeth Bishops

poem The Prodigal is an excellent example.

Finally, look at the following poem by the author. What features of the sonnet

does it share? Which do you feel it is missing? On balance do you think it is a

sonnet? Why? Ill leave the bottom half of the page underneath it blank so you

can make notes.

TongsYears nailed to the wall as an ornament,

the tongs grow clatty, plastered with lime

and disuse. Once, they would be taken down

to cross your cradle with at night. Blessed

and blanketed and doused with holy water,

their lightning metal hid from thunderstorms.

They could cure or curse and knew their own.

The long years cut the shape of crooked fingers

on the handle, have sooted them full-way up

the shafts, burnt the claws to blackened stumps,

dark as her eyes, dead as the ash in the fire.

And when they take the coffin out, and before

the house is sold, or tossed, or the roof falls in,

take them out across the threshold; bury them.

Nigel McLoughlin

Documents

Writing 2: Poetry Form & Freedom