With a new year comes changes and new goals to deliver. Given the success of our last book project we have discussed to create a book that could be used as a handbook of forms while at the same time include good examples of your poetry to be used in the dVerse little handbook on forms.
We would like to cover as many forms as possible from different part of the world but we have decided not to cover the Japanese forms as they are covered in so many other places.
Therefore every second MTB will be a “Poetic Form” entry, and the prompt will remain open for four weeks to allow for editing and perfecting our entries.
You can of course combine the Poetics and other MTB entries to give you more possibilities to get into the handbook.
I will kick off with the sonnet, and we will be giving you opportunities to take part in this collective new effort. As part of this we also ask anyone willing to guest host a form. Just send us a message and we can plan entries from you.
We have done various aspect of the sonnet many times before, and the attached prompt is meant to summarize this for you.
The sonnet
A brief history
The sonnet was originally created in Italy and it’s creation has been attributed to Giacomo da Lentini in the 13th century. The word sonnet is derived from son (sound and song) and a diminutive ending giving an interpretation “little song”.
The most famous Italian sonneteer is Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch) who have given name to the Petrarchan sonnet. Other famous poets writing sonnets include poets like Dante Alighieri
Petrarch
The sonnet first came to England in the sixteenth century and were introduced by Thomas Wyatt, as translated Petrarchan sonnets, but were later perfected and evolved by famous poets like William Shakespeare and Edmund Spenser.
Sonnets have since continued to attract the interest of poets who have added to the structure of the sonnet without changing the basic structure of the poem. Pablo Neruda for instance has kept the basic structure but removed the rhymes and meter.
Basic Structure
A sonnet consists of 14 lines structured into two parts. The first part gives an “argument” and the second part a “solution” separated by a “volta” (a turn), in the italian sonnet the argument consists of the first octet leaving the last sextet for the resolution. The volta is therefore placed at the ninth line. In the English (or Shakespearean) sonnet the volta is placed in the thirteenth line, leaving only the last two lines for a resolution. The volta is often marked in a change of rhyme scheme and even if there is no clear difference in argument and solution the volta should mark a change of perspective.
For most of us we think of sonnets in terms of a love poems exclusively but going through the world of sonnets there are many examples on other topics such as religion or philosophy. There are even sonnets on politics.
Meter
Sonnets written in English have almost exclusively been written in iambic pentameter, which actually is the meter that most resembles natural speech, which makes a sonnet very easy to read, but if you decide not to write ten syllable length remember to make the lines approximately equal in length to get the balance of the sonnet right.
Rhyme-schemes
In many articles and posts about sonnets I have read it seems like the most important part of a sonnet is the rhyme scheme. I think rhyme schemes comes secondary to a good sonnet, but here are some of the most commonly used rhyme schemes.
In a Petrarchan sonnet the rhyme scheme of the first octet is ABBA ABBA and the concluding sextet (after the volta) is either CDE CDE or CDC CDC.
A Shakespearean sonnet has a rhyme scheme in three quartets followed by a couplet (containing the volta) as follows. ABAB CDCD EFEF GG and a Spenserian sonnet has a rhyme scheme of ABAB BCBC CDCD EE which exemplifies a nested rhyme scheme bringing me into my favorite rhyme scheme, Terza Rima where the sonnet is divided into 4 tercets and a couplet instead with the following rhyme scheme: ABA BCB CDC DED EE.
There are many more rhyme schemes, and you can probably come up with a new one, but remember you always have the option of using no rhyme scheme at all.
This article on sonnets will be updated based on your input and grow into an entry for our upcoming book.
- Please write a sonnet and link up below. Use the opportunity to read through the comment you receive, and edit if you like to.
- You are welcome to link up an old sonnet that you feel fits the prompt or you can take a favorite free verse poem and rewrite it as a sonnet.
- If you like it would be interesting if you added a short note about your thoughts when writing the sonnet. The comments will be a part of the book in the end.
- Comment as usually and if you would like to receive constructive feedback on your poem please indicate that in your comments, and if you ask for constructive feedback be prepared to give constructive feedback as well
- If you would like to edit and improve your poem please update a new link in Mr Linky so it shouws
dVerse 
Hello friends… if you have any comments or questions on this new projects of ours I’m here to answer and guide you. Remember that the prompt is open for a month… every four weeks there will be a new form…
Thank you for kicking off this project Bjorn. Writing in poetic form is a challenge for me but I am open to learning and sharpening my poetic tool box. I look forward to reading and commenting on the entries for this first form, sonnet.
The sonnet is for me the perfect form… the length is perfect, you can fill it with imagery you cannot do in shorter forms…
If you are struggling with a topic to write on, I recommend going back to old poetics entries, or you can take a poem you have written before and make into a sonnet…
Good evening, Björn, and hello fellow poets! I also thank you for getting the new project off the ground with the sonnet, one of my favourite forms. There was a time when pretty much everything I wrote became a sonnet. Like you, I find the sonnet is the perfect form, although the quadrille comes a close second. I wondered, as the prompt is open for a month, can we link up more than one sonnet? I have a couple of old ones I was thinking of tinkering with. I’m excited about what everyone will write about as there is no theme or topic.
You can link up as many as you like… you can link up old ones, or you can rewrite one if you like… You might also want to write a sonnet for a Poetic prompt and link up to both prompts…. the more entries the better.
Yay!
There is also the modern sonnet which has the 14 lines with the resolution being the last two lines. Since rhymes and I do it play well together is a modern sonnet acceptable, or only the rhyming type?
All sonnets are acceptable, and the resolution can be either after the first octet (as Pablo Neruda often did) or in the final couplet as the Shakesperean one. I would love to see some modern sonnets here as well.
Thank you for your response Bjorn
Thank you for starting off this new project. I don’t have trouble with forms, but for some reason, I find sonnets difficult. I will try though. I look forward to seeing all the many sonnets that arrive here!
There are lots of choices…. in the sonnet… if you find meter hard, don’t do it. If you don’t like rhymes… skip that…. sonnets comes in many many shapes.
No, rhyme is not a problem. We’ll see what happens. 🙂
Thank you Bjorn for starting this project and explaining the form in such detail. The options are helpful as well.
I’ve always struggled with forms —- and have learned about so many different forms from dVerse. I’m always game to learn — and I learn as much by reading folks’s posts as well as from the prompt directions.
Iambic pentameter always drives me crazy to write and I find myself “counting” on my fingers and tapping louder for accents as I read my attempted lines. But – I am determined to do it this time!
We leave for 2 weeks in San Diego tomorrow, I shall write on the plane😊 and warmer weather will be my muse for 2 weeks!
When you get used to the iambic pentameter it just sounds right…. and comes naturally
Well I’ll keep at it and hope that happens😊
I’m excited to hear about the project but also anxious. Am about to start the writing of the sonnet. Once posted I am open to any feedback anyone wishes to give.
Play the sonnet to your strengths… and once you’ve done one you can do more.
I’m very interested in what you have to say about the one posted last night, especially whether it follows iambic pentameter. It felt bumpy where others’ being read sound so smooth.
a wonderful start to the poetic form Bjorn! the sonnet is the most romantic and melodious of forms to me, I am looking forward to learning from the other amazing poets here too. Best wishes to all as you create and produce.
I think the sonnet is so versatile, the romantic aspect is of course the most well-known, but there are so many other aspects to take,
Hi everyone. This is such an informative share, Bjorn. It gave me the history and guidance I needed. As you know, I am more of a free verse writer but I am up for the challenge. I found it tricky to stick to exact meter but put in an effort. After completing my sonnet, I realized I had not used the proper rhyme scheme associated with the Terza Rima, so I am grateful for the flexibility you are allowing on this form. 🙂
Here’s to taking me out of my comfort zone! Cheers!
I think exact meter is sometimes hard but I always keep the thesaurus handy to find alternative words that fit better with the meter…. But breaking the meter is sometimes also a good thing…
Hi, Bjorn
I would like to host a piece on Erasure Poems, if you consider it as a form of poetry.
We had planned to do it on more classic forms but we’ll keep it in mind if we ever do erasure and/or found poetry.
Thank you!
Hi Bjorn, I think the project sounds wonderful! I do enjoy writing form poetry and starting with a sonnet my favorite. I will be working on one 😉
I know that you will like the forms we have coming up… we will focus on all the favorite and familiar ones as well as some interesting new ones.
Poetry of specific forms are not my preference, but this one was fun. Thank you Bjorn, hope you like my take on the sonnet.
I think the sonnet having been in vogue for since the 13 th century has all the variations we can have.
A very incisive article/tutorial, Bjorn! Thank you for all the info. Will try writing a new sonnet this weekend. It’s good to have a long deadline for these form prompts. 🙂
We thought it would be so, and whenever you write on another subject you can always model it to a sonnet.
I’ve added one, and perhaps I’ll try another soon. Now I’ll get to reading.
Oh the more the merrier … I will probably add more sonnets too.
I LOVE that you are making a book of forms!
We thought it would be fun too… and with poems from a lot of talented poems as example it would be great.
Hi, Björn… everbody…! I thought I’d drop by and read and post. Sonnets are not my strong suit, but it never hurts to stretch ourselves as poets.
and since the prompt is open for a month with possibility for more additions… why not.
Indeed! Why not?
Ai wrote the petrarchan, okay? 😊 As different from you, Bjørn, aI believe, aI had a hard time getting it, writing pentameters. Maybe it is a language thing. You did so fluently, it appeared. Practise works, though. You know, there are almost no sonnets in the history of Norway. Andre Bjerke wrote a few, and aI think he has been the only one. Well. 💛 Ai wrote the sonnet in a hurry, and aI am so satisfied, aI think aI must do something about it. Vodka and Lerum’s Blåbærsaft, aI believe, will be the thing.
Andre Bjerke:
IV. HELDIG VANVIDD
Det hender at et rolig bekkesilder
går over i et stryk, et fossefall,
og den poet som både må og skal
bli skum, er han som har «de klare kilder».
Jo større klarhet desto verre hilder!
Din hjerne, denne kulen av krystall,
ble det som heksen spår i, full av all
den redsel som kan speile seg i bilder.
Men først når fossen sluker hele bekken,
og alt krystall gir rom for gjøglespill,
forstår du hva det er du blir forunt:
Du slipper fri! Du slipper jo med skrekken,
fordi ditt hele vesen slipper til …
Å, dikter, å bli gal en stund er sunt!
—-
Fra “En lang natts ferd mot dag” fra samlingen “Et strå i vind” (1974). Jeg ser forresten nå at Bjerke skrev mange sonetter.
Og nå: Til verket! Smirnoff. You reach attention by only looking at the bottle.
Hello all- I am adding a Spenserian sonnet today that is not about love. Great prompt Bjorn- this is my third attempt at a Spenserian sonnet. I may try to rework one of my older ones and submit as well. Thanks for always challenging me!
And so, aI had to make a spensarian too! 😉 Ai mean, aI could not be a joke. And besides that, aI have had two vodkas. Eh …
I will come by to read!
I was busy yesterday, so did not participate. I was happy to see you were starting a new project–so I wrote a sonnet today. The meter will be erratic, but the rhyme scheme is classic. A handbook of forms would be ideal. I thought about compiling one over the years, but never got around to it. We always can go into the dVerse archives to look up forms we’ve used for MTB, but a handbook would be easier, and some of our fellow poets will be included; so cool.
We thought that it would be nice to have another book for our bookshelves… and that it should be useful beyond the use as a poetry book…
Making us write in forms is a nice change and a lovely challenge. 🙂 Thanks for the prompt. I sure do hope to participate in the challenges more often than I manage these days. Happy new year.
I especially can’t wait to read yours, here is mine it was very difficult for me since I have never, ever attempted a sonnet before.
https://myforever.blog/2019/01/05/your-epiphany-dont-miss-it/
The prompt is open so you can link it up in Mr Linky
What aI think is insane, is that one cannot use my emoticons in comments. Ai mean, 💜 one can use the standard emojis. And those 🌻 are fine, and very fine, aI believe, in the WordPress way. Ai mean: See: 🦁 . So, aI should not complain. 🦆 It is, though, completely, terribly, peculiarly insane.
And, 🖤 another thing: Why are there lines in every note book? 🏳️🌈 As if the poet need guidance? 🐤 Rules? 🎩 Who came up with that idea? 💧 Can we please have his name so that we can make blog posts about him?
THE FLOWERS
If flowers wanted guidance they would seek
the sun, and ask, what is there with the rain.
Should one confront, or should one be quite meek,
and should one be glad, or should one feel pain.
Dear sun, give us direction, they would say,
for how to be, the question happy end.
The flowers would, for to be in the way
the flower should be in for to depend.
And if the sun denied a certain course,
they would, of course, address the rain, and speak
to it as if to quite provoke the source.
They would, to know how flowers out can freak.
The flowers, though, for guidance question not.
The flowers think they no idea have got.
Vaccinius, it is with enjoyment I read about your The Flowers.
This is a delight!
It took a while to get my nerves together to try a sonnet and somehow made something, even if a bit immature I think but will grow into the form. I’ll try some more and post. If I don’t get round to reading everyone’s – my internet connection is totally erratic these days and pages have to be reloaded up to three times sometimes. Kindly bear with me.
A sonnet is a bit like graduation as a poet… the form is so versatile and can be as easy as you want and as complicated as you wish.
Thanks for that! I’ll up the anty as best I can. looking forward to the journey.
It took me forever it seems to write this first attempt at a sonnet poem, yet it was a great exercise for my old feeble brain. Now to go and read what others here have accomplished.
https://myforever.blog/2019/01/05/your-epiphany-dont-miss-it/
New to d’Verse and excited to jump in. I have a secret love of structured forms, and I’m looking forward to learning and sharing here.
Nice to have you Nora… and I will get by and read your sonnet soon.
You are starting the year off in fine form, Bjorn. I will try a sonnet.
I’m in form for forms 🙂
Hello All- based on feedback, I revised my previous post. Thank you for helping me to grow as a poet!
Rushing over to see what you ended up with.
Bjorn and Gina, I’ve tweaked Sonnet 1 and have linked it up as a revision to the original. I’ve got a couple other sonnets I wrote and am in the process of tweaking them. Having extra time to submit is very much appreciated. Thanks for any feedback at any time, dear assembled poets.
I will read it when I’m back from work tonight.
Björn: I am very happy for the return offorms. I enjoy the discipline. I also like that you will keep it open for four weeks and really like the idea of editing and comments to give real feedback. I also like that you said, “If you like it would be interesting if you added a short note about your thoughts when writing the sonnet. The comments will be a part of the book in the end.” But I don’t see people taking time to do that.
However, I strongly wish, however, you’d limit it to one poem each — I think many others agree with me. I will just be reading one poem per writer, and even that is a lot of work. I won’t flood with 4 of my own.
Hello… I understand your concern about many entries but we are many who want to be able to test various different sonnets… there is no requirement to comment on more than one entry anyway… so we do not ask that from anyone, also they can be double linked for comments. The big work is for me as a bartender to do the final selection and feedback…. Hope that’s Ok with you… I will get back and comment on yours when I’m free from work.
Got it.
I am very happy with the return of forms, though, can’t emphasize that enough. A form which is only limited to the number of words was not a “form” at all for me, but keep verbosity down.
If you can’t beat them, join them. I added my second sonnet. I like the idea of numbering them — I imitated yours, Björn. Maybe next time state a limit of posted poems, and encourage numbering. maybe, lol. thanx dude
I always number mine… and will check yours man
Hi Bjorn, I am a bit late for the party. I could use a nightcap.
I ran into an issue will re-link tomorrow. I
Hi Bjorn – Can you please remove my first link, it was late last night and I ran into an issue. I may post an old one as well, as it is my favorite.
Thanks
No problem it’s easily fixed….
Here’s a poem I wrote last year when I made a new friend…
https://worldofmythoughts2017.wordpress.com/2018/03/22/a-sweet-bond/
Hello Bjorn. Life has been so crazy (always is it seems), I was afraid I couldn’t participate, but it has been bouncing around in my calvarium a bit and so here is a late entry. Thank you for hosting this, I look forward to reading the entries, although it will be slowing getting through them as ever, but I look forward to it. Since there are so many disparate forms of the sonnet, and the “rules” have almost become a little free-versey in their latitude (don’t worry too much about rhyme or meter), I wonder if the most essential thing about the sonnet is the structure of argument (or question), followed by a devastating volta, and a clinching resolution. I followed the line number convention for Shakespearean, and the rhyme scheme also, but I played a little loose with the meter. I also made the volta and resolution lines longer than the others. I loved your explanation and the had work you brought to it and also found Jilly’s enjambment discussion relevant. Thank you. I noticed that no one seems to have ordered drinks this whole month… have we all set resolutions to that end or something? 😉
I will order, if it is not too late, a nice cup of Heisenberg Hot Chocolate, but please give me the kind with a dual nature, with both waves of cream and particles of thick cocoa stuck to the bottom.
I am also appreciative of any type of kind but honest feedback y’all have on the piece I am posting. Thanks Friends! 🙂
Hello Lorna, I will get back and read your entry, we have been adding a lot, and as you say the sonnet has evolved in so many varieties, but to me the essential things are the 14 lines structure and the volta… The Petrarchan sonnet has it after 8 lines and the Shakespearan has it placed after 12…
Another try today. I grew up near Washington, D.C,. and felt I needed to honor both the indigenous tribes of the area and Nathan Phillips, Water-Protector and Omaha Nation Elder. Rhyme breaks at the end of the stanzas are deliberate.
Thank you Nora, great topic for a sonnet.
BTW Bjorn: You repeated a common myth when you wrote: “Sonnets written in English have almost exclusively been written in iambic pentameter, which actually is the meter that most resembles natural speech, which makes a sonnet very easy to read,” Natural speech, English cerrtainly not, is not naturally iambic. Googling it will help you see articles countering this commonly propagated myth.
I will check it… I have read it in several books, so I guess it’s a topic of some controversy… maybe it’s more proper to say that the iambic meter “feels” natural… compared to for instance anapests which feels more “comical”… but it might be through our training.
Hey Bjorn, In this article you said, “but remember you always have the option of using no rhyme scheme at all.” I think this is highly counter productive. You might as well stop calling this “Poetry Forms” if you do that. The point of form is to obey at least the minimum of what makes a form. You don’t write a sonnet and call it Haiku, or a paragraph of prose and call it a limerick, etc. A sonnet started out with 14 lines, rhyme and a structure with a volta — hell, maybe you should say, keep 2 out of three of these and you can call it a sonnet. Writing free verse anyway you want is not the purpose of forms in this sort of context, in my humble opinion. Just mentioning that now as you contemplate putting up future “FORM” prompts for a book on “FORMS”.
My point here is that there is an order in everything most important is the fourteen lines (though I have seen fifteen line sonnets too), secondly the volta which is about the topic is written… the rhyme scheme is something that in many books are said to be the most important that tells you the type of a sonnet…
I have read many clever sonnets lacking a volta, then in my opinion it’s not a sonnet but simply a rhymed verse.
I wanted to include the non-rhymed version to include all great versions written by Pablo Neruda and followers of him…
So I disagree and let us keep it at that.
Hey Bjorn, So I put up a post on my other blog that discusses this issue. Any readers who wish to participate, I would love to modify my diagrams. Give it a thought. https://triangulations.wordpress.com/2019/01/23/sonnet-variants/
How very exciting! I love to play with form. But I’m glad you said we could use an old one, as I have not been very prolific lately. It was Sam Peralta, when he was presenting at dVerse, who finally got me brave enough to write sonnets. I have linked a Neruda-style ‘free verse sonnet’ on a very non-serious subject. (I hasten to reassure Sabio that it has 14 lines and a volta.)
As I see we can link more than one, I shall. I am adding comments about what I felt when writing on each individual poem at my blog.
Very good, Rosemary, 2 out of 3 ain’t bad (hear the song?) LOL
When does a chair stop being a chair? My mom said, “When its a table”! LOL
Hello everyone! I really didn’t think I would make it by the deadline but here is my sonnet. I am one who struggles with the rhythm, so I’m open to suggestions. Over the weekend I will be reading what has been posted before me – a lot!! Thanks, Bjorn, for being there, and keeping the site so alive and interesting.
Four weeks is a long time, and I have yet to read every entry…