fandomhigh | The Art of Poetry; Monday, First Period [02/07].

"I understand that I may have a bit of a...cultural bias," said Shunsui, settled in their little poetry ring, as he poured for each of the girls a cup of this week's tea and passed them on before settling in with his own, "but I've always been far more partial to the sweet simplicity," aka ease, "of most styles of Eastern poetry, especially when moving toward the far more structured forms of poetry that arise in Western cultures. Take, for example, the quintessential form of Western poetry, the sonnet ♥. Originated in Italy in the thirteenth century, sonnet loosely means 'little song,' and was chiefly used as a method to express courtly and romantic love, but in a very specific structured style, that gained a great deal of popularity in the Rennaissance. Now, obviously, as we've mentioned before working with Japanese and Chinese poetry, translations and languages can make a difference, and there is a vast array of difference sin the details of sonnets based on languages, so, for simplicity's sake, we will, of course, but focusing on the English sonnets, which came about during the sixteenth century ♥.

"Without getting too deep into all the...obnoxious complications--this is, after all, but an introductory class--a sonnet will generally follow a particular rhyme scheme and a particular rythm or meter. Specifically, the rhyme scheme goes ABAB CDCD EFEF GG and the meter is iambic pentameter. Iambic means that the words will have an unstressed beat followed by a stressed one, which gives it a bit of an upward lilting effect, and penta-, of course, means five so there are five of these iambs to each line...."

Here he heaved a sigh, shaking his head over his tea. "Dreadfully complicated, isn't it, ducklings ♥? But they can be lovely poems, if a bit overly long and restricted, though I must say, I have no complaints with the subject matter, as love will always be a welcome topic for a stirring and moving poem ♥. Let us take a moment, then, to look at one of the most ubiquitous sonnets out there, from the immortal bard himself, William Shakespeare, his oh-so-cleverly titled Sonnet 18, and I'd be rather astonished if you've not heard it before. Be sure to pay attention to the beat as I recite it, and to the rhymes used ♥."

With that, of course, he recited, being sure to emphasize the rhymes and the rhythm:

"hall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate.
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer’s lease hath all too short a date.

Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimmed;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance or nature’s changing course untrimmed.

But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st,
Nor shall Death brag thou wand’rest in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou grow’st.

So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee."

"And compare that," said Shunsui with a bit of a grin, "to his much more cheeky Sonnet 130:

"My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun;
Coral is far more red than her lips’ red;
If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;
If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.

I have seen roses damasked, red and white,
But no such roses see I in her cheeks,
And in some perfumes is there more delight
Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.

I love to hear her speak, yet well I know
That music hath a far more pleasing sound.
I grant I never saw a goddess go;
My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground.

And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare
As any she belied with false compare.

""Or perhaps somehting a bit more sad and longing from Christina Rossetti:

"Remember me when I am gone away,
Gone far away into the silent land;
When you can no more hold me by the hand,
Nor I half turn to go yet turning stay.

Remember me when no more day by day
You tell me of our future that you plann'd:
Only remember me; you understand
It will be late to counsel then or pray.

Yet if you should forget me for a while
And afterwards remember, do not grieve:
For if the darkness and corruption leave
A vestige of the thoughts that once I had,
Better by far you should forget and smile
Than that you should remember and be sad.

"And lastly, barely romantic at all, but one I personally can't help but find particularly interesting, from John Donne:

"Death, be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so;
For those whom thou think'st thou dost overthrow
Die not, poor Death, nor yet canst thou kill me.

From rest and sleep, which but thy pictures be,
Much pleasure; then from thee much more must flow,
And soonest our best men with thee do go,
Rest of their bones, and soul's delivery.

Thou art slave to fate, chance, kings, and desperate men,
And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell,
And poppy or charms can make us sleep as well
And better than thy stroke; why swell'st thou then?

One short sleep past, we wake eternally
And death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die."

"These examples," Shunsui concluded, with a sleepy sort of smile as he cradled his tea, "merely scratch the surface of possibilities, which is why I have brought today some rather old and dusty books with plenty more for guidance, or you can just set off and work on your own sonnets if you're already feeling quite inspired ♥. A bit more involved than your haiku and tanka, but we'll see what you come up with by the end of class ♥. Any questions before I leave you to your verses, mmm ♥?"

The Art of Poetry; Monday, First Period [02/07].

OOC - AoP, 02/07.