by Guest » Sat Nov 12, 2005 11:44 pm
<!--QuoteBegin-elko+Nov 9 2005, 11:36 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (elko @ Nov 9 2005, 11:36 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> Do you find it a challenge to write to set structures, or was it something that just happened? <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
yes and no, iguess.
icame up with the first bit really quickly, juste thinking to myself one day- the bit in the first quatrain about "...knew you long before we ever met-/... should isay knew of-/and too, twas long before iknew love." not the exact wording, but more or less it was there in my head. it was originally going to be juste another lyric, but early on isaw the opportunity to mould a sonnet out of it and so idecided to giv it a go.
ive been studying a lot of poetry- 16th-18th century stuff- and much of what ive most enjoyed has been amongst the sonnet tradition- Howard, Sidney, Spenser, Shakespeare, Woodsworth and so on. in particular, ive been a big fan of Shakespeare's sonnets, and thats why ichoose to write in more or less the Shakespearian form, though iuse an envelope rhyme scheme in the first and third quatrians.
it was challenging, but not terribly really. a lot of it came relatively quickly and then igot stuck for a time and ileft it unfinished for months. icame across it again the other day and had some inspiration to finish it off. a lot of my frustration originally was icouldnt decide whether to write more olde style (it was origianlly "'twas" and other stuff like "ye" and so on when istarted makin a sonnet out of it), or modern/contemporary. iwanted to go modern cos it would reflect more genuinely (since it is indeed very genuine emotionally), but icouldnt get away from the "thee"/"me" rhyme- so ifinally decided to marry the two and became quite satisfied with the result. the final couplet came out in two seconds.
ive written one other sonnet- ibelieve iposted it here, "The Common Things"- which was more an excerise than anything else. imean, it was voluntary, but it was really me havin read a lot of Woodsworth and seeing if icould do anything like it- sadly, the answer was no. its decent fora first go isuppose, but iwont keep round for the collection- ha.
this one im far more proud of.