Petrarchan sonnet? Ought to be a breeze!
Those old folk had it sussed - pick any bard;
they really churned them out; it can't be hard.
The Brownings (both) just thought it was a wheeze,
(And Mrs B. wrote hers in Portuguese!)
When Keats was reading Homer by the yard
or Wordsworth paid the capital regard,
they took a leaf from Petrarch, if you please!
So now, I take my pen. Just fourteen lines -
an octave, then a sestet - eight and six.
Iambic too, I think I've got that beat.
The rhyming's ABBA-something. See, it shines.
We're almost done; I've mastered all the tricks.
Be sure to vote for me. Thank you, my sweet.
|
 |
Petrarchan Sonnet
Contest Winner
|
|
|
Author Notes
Serious looking fella, old Petrarch, ain't he. Looks like he wouldn't really approve of my making fun of the form!
In line 12, the ABBA of course refers to the rhyme scheme in the octave. However, you will need to pronounce it like the name of the Swedish Pop group. I tinkered with the idea of a witty pun for the end of the line, but I couldn't get Fernando or Dancing Queen to fit!
The Petrarchan sonnet is a sonnet form popularized by the Italian poet Petrarch, consisting of an octave with the rhyme scheme abbaabba and of a sestet with one of several rhyme schemes, as cdecde or cdcdcd. It is usually written in iambic pentameter.
I have mentioned several famous writers of sonnets in the poem. Robert Browning and his wife Elizabeth Barrett Browning both wrote fine examples. Mrs B. did not really write hers in Portuguese - that's just my little joke based on the title of her collection, "Sonnets From the Portuguese." That title was her little joke - her husband had given her the nickname 'Portuguese', because of her olive complexion.
John Keats wrote a number of sonnets. The one referenced in my poem is "On First Looking Into Chapman's Homer."
William Wordsworth eclipsed them all with more than five hundred sonnets to his name. That should give us all a target to aim for! Dolly, are you close, yet? One of his most famous was the beautiful description of London titled "Lines Written Upon Westminster Bridge."
You may have worked out that my sonnet is not entirely serious. Enjoy the fun and, of course, vote for the best poem. I know I will!
|
|
