Shakespeare's Sonnets
question
Sonnet it like Shakespeare
Rajnish
Apr 20, 2016 11:33PM
How does one follow the mechanics (not the genius, that can't be followed) of a Shakespearean Sonnet? One of the ways may be a thorough rhetorical analysis and imitation. Here's an example;
Since brass, nor stone, nor earth, nor boundless sea,
But sad mortality o'ersways their power,
...
That in black ink my love may still shine bright. (29)
The quick succession of phrases centred on material agents that are strong, powerful and are finally joined in the negation of their power as they prove weak before mortality, and the rhyming of the word mortality with the word at the end of previous line are two obvious traits of the lines. In a way, the strategic placement of “sea” and “mortality” brings the half line that follows in conjunction with the first one. The first line, in itself, has a haunting quality. It keeps echoing in the mind’s ears. The meter of the first line is the ubiquitous iambic pentameter. Can there be a rhetorical prescription, to create a line of similar nature, power and beauty then? A tentative formula may be:
Since N1, nor N2, nor N3, nor N4,
But… (a noun that rhymes with N4)…
Where N1-N4 are elements in a set of things that have a quality in common, e.g. in the line above, the four nouns are strong and lasting elements overpowered by mortality. Moreover, the series is in the ascending order of their powers to withstand time’s ravages and remain unaltered.
Putting values in the equation above is the next obvious step in our short experiment. As splicing the quatrain is a sin even greater than fragmenting the octave, let the first four lines of the sonnets be produced full before we continue:
Since brass, nor stone, nor earth, nor boundless sea,
But sad mortality o'ersways their power,
How with this rage shall beauty hold a plea,
Whose action is no stronger than a flower?
An attempt at the formulaic reproduction yielded:
Since eyes, nor ears, nor tongue, nor sense of smell,
But surging swell of sweetness lulls to sleep,
Can all enveloped, cloyed, dull senses tell,
When what they need to fathom lies too deep?
Or
Since neither sight nor sound nor taste or touch or smell,
But surging swell of sweetness lulls to sleep.
Can all enveloped, cloyed, dull senses tell,
When what they need to fathom lies too deep?
Since brass, nor stone, nor earth, nor boundless sea,
But sad mortality o'ersways their power,
...
That in black ink my love may still shine bright. (29)
The quick succession of phrases centred on material agents that are strong, powerful and are finally joined in the negation of their power as they prove weak before mortality, and the rhyming of the word mortality with the word at the end of previous line are two obvious traits of the lines. In a way, the strategic placement of “sea” and “mortality” brings the half line that follows in conjunction with the first one. The first line, in itself, has a haunting quality. It keeps echoing in the mind’s ears. The meter of the first line is the ubiquitous iambic pentameter. Can there be a rhetorical prescription, to create a line of similar nature, power and beauty then? A tentative formula may be:
Since N1, nor N2, nor N3, nor N4,
But… (a noun that rhymes with N4)…
Where N1-N4 are elements in a set of things that have a quality in common, e.g. in the line above, the four nouns are strong and lasting elements overpowered by mortality. Moreover, the series is in the ascending order of their powers to withstand time’s ravages and remain unaltered.
Putting values in the equation above is the next obvious step in our short experiment. As splicing the quatrain is a sin even greater than fragmenting the octave, let the first four lines of the sonnets be produced full before we continue:
Since brass, nor stone, nor earth, nor boundless sea,
But sad mortality o'ersways their power,
How with this rage shall beauty hold a plea,
Whose action is no stronger than a flower?
An attempt at the formulaic reproduction yielded:
Since eyes, nor ears, nor tongue, nor sense of smell,
But surging swell of sweetness lulls to sleep,
Can all enveloped, cloyed, dull senses tell,
When what they need to fathom lies too deep?
Or
Since neither sight nor sound nor taste or touch or smell,
But surging swell of sweetness lulls to sleep.
Can all enveloped, cloyed, dull senses tell,
When what they need to fathom lies too deep?
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