formal poetry - sonnet - criticism

A New Poetics

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formal poetry sonnet criticism - A New Poetics

Redemption by George Herbert

February 4th 2009 04:20

Having been tenant long to a rich lord,
Not thriving, I resolved to be bold,
And make a suit unto him, to afford
A new small-rented lease, and cancel the old.
In heaven at his manor I him sought;
They told me there that he was lately gone
About some land, which he had dearly bought
Long since on earth, to take possession.
I straight returned, and knowing his great birth,
Sought him accordingly in great resorts;
In cities, theaters, gardens, parks, and courts;
At length I heard a ragged noise and mirth
Of thieves and murderers; there I him espied,

Who straight, Your suit is granted, said, and died.

Yay, another religious poem by a long-dead white guy. But seriously, I love this sonnet. The structure and form are so tight, and the diction is exactly precise. Rhythm is nice and easy but executed with intention; the poem is very concise--no wordiness here. Tight narrative feel, builds up tension, concludes with a powerfully hitting line.

No time to talk tonight; just mull over the power of this poem while I regain my sanity. See you all tomorrow!

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Posted By: Andrew Kerstetter - Category: formal poetry, sonnet, criticism

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Shakespeare's Sonnet 73

February 2nd 2009 02:22

That time of year thou may'st in me behold
When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang
Upon those boughs which shake against the cold,
Bare ruined choirs, where late the sweet birds sang.

In me thou seest the twilight of such day
As after sunset fadeth in the west;
Which by and by black night doth take away,
Death's second self that seals up all in rest.

In me thou seest the glowing of such fire
That on the ashes of his youth doth lie,
As the deathbed whereon it must expire,
Consumed with that which it was nourished by.

This thou perceiv'st, which makes thy love more strong,

To love that well, which though must leave ere long.

Some clarification things first. "choirs" in the first stanza refers to choirlofts in churches. "By and by" means soon or presently. "Seest" was pronounced as one syllable, not like "see-est" as some people say today.

Basically, the speaker is comparing his old age to different things, and in the final couplet tells the lover to love him well, since he'll be gone soon. However, this poem isn't just a simple exercise in metaphor. The metaphor of the speaker as a tree in winter and as the day fading to night are poignant, but there's one things that makes these two images strange in this context: they don't stay in the deteriorated state. Spring comes and leaves and vitality return to trees; dawn comes and banishes the darkness of night. But the third image--the image of the fire--is final and irrevocable. It's almost like the speaker was subconsciously struggling with the concept of his own death, and finally accepted it before the end.

The fire metaphor is particularly interested once taken apart. The fire's ashes are compared to--what once was--the speaker's youth and liveliness which is now burnt out and is the cause of the fire's quenching. A very complex metaphor laden with possible meanings.

The poem is mostly iambic, but there are some spondaic substitutions ("BARE RUined," "DEATH'S SECond" etc.) that give the poem a sort of heaviness--a sense of reluctant admission. Then in the third stanza I read the third line as a dibrach and then a spondee ("as the DEATHBED") a strange wave rushing onto a firm rock in the midst of an otherwise flowing stanza. Even the rhythm of the poem reflects the speaker's psyche.

Aside from these aesthetic points, the poem is punctuated well: the punctuation marks give appropriate emphasis to certain words and phrases as well as giving the reader well-timed pauses to regain their breath.

This is a poignant, melancholy poem that changes seemingly negative images and concepts into something acceptable and inevitable. It has an aching beauty. This is definitely one of my favorite poems of Shakespeare.

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Posted By: Andrew Kerstetter - Category: formal poetry, sonnet, criticism

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Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening, by Robert Frost

January 18th 2009 21:01

Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound's the sweep
Of the easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark, and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

I love this poem because it's a perfect marriage of idea and form. This is actually a variation on the sonnet form, and it reminds me of the Spenserian sonnet's interlocking rhyme scheme, though this poem has a much narrower scheme. The rhyme scheme here is AABA BBCB CCDC DDDD. It almost seems like a combination of the Italian sonnet and Spenserian sonnet, taking the very narrow and repetitive rhyme of the Italian and interlocking it stanza by stanza like the Spenserian sonnet.

The poem's written in perfect iambic tetrameter, all except for the last line of the third stanza, which has an extra syllable. Although "the easy" can easily be melted together to sound like "th'easy", I think it would have actually been better if the word "the" had been taken out, to leave "of easy wind and downy flake." But, Frost was the master, and apparently the critics liked this poem, so maybe I should just keep my mouth shut.

The repetitive rhyme scheme and appealing meter make it sound like a song, and maybe that's the way he wanted it to sound anyway. It could easily be put to music. I like it because it talks about a regular, everyday occurrence and makes it beautiful in a simple way. I also appreciate this poem because it's tough to make a poem with such a tight rhyme scheme and meter make sense and be meaningful. But I suppose that's why Frost was famous. This is definitely one of my favorite poems of his.

Tomorrow I'll look at a villanelle I wrote recently, some qualities of which I don't really like, and I'll explain why. It's difficult to change a villanelle without completely re-writing it...I guess I'll figure it out.

See you tomorrow and have a good night!

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Posted By: Andrew Kerstetter - Category: formal poetry, sonnet, criticism, meter

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Spenser's Sonnet 37

January 12th 2009 03:29

This is a very late edition of Sonnet Sunday: my apologies. I just got settled back in at school, and the obligatory and inevitable welcoming of friends delayed this post considerably. It's still Sunday on the U.S. east coast, so that has to count for something, right?...Right?

Sonnet 37 from Sir Edmund Spenser's "Amoretti

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