I knew nothing about sonnets, until I decided to look them up recently, for some reason. That is one possible rhyming structure—the Shakespearean, apparently. Each line should also have ten syllables per line, with every second stressed—good old iambic pentameter. I always found that term to be somewhat daunting and mysterious when it was discussed in English lessons at school, which rather hindered my understanding of the concept—although it is not that complicated. Hopefully I got it right enough here!
The bane of English students everywhere! I've always thought it might stick better if they also gave examples of what iambic pentameter does not look like, e.g.
×/×/×/×/×/
Shall /I/ com/pare/ thee /to/ a /sum/mer's /day?/
Very pretty! Vs a mangled:
///××/×/×/
/Should I say/ you are /love/ly /as/ the /day?/
I probably don't have the rhythm right on that, but whatever it is it's not iambic. Perhaps I should pivot to a career as an overzealous English teacher.
Thank you! Your symmetry appreciation is appreciated and I shall gladly take on those bonus points. (Although full marks would surely have come for threading a common theme through each piece… the one about ducks sort of throws that away at the end!)
Striking | Lovely | Amusing.
I appreciate the title breakdown, for although I understand a Haiku's structure, sonnets are something I am less knowledgeable of.
Tack, thanks, merci!
I knew nothing about sonnets, until I decided to look them up recently, for some reason. That is one possible rhyming structure—the Shakespearean, apparently. Each line should also have ten syllables per line, with every second stressed—good old iambic pentameter. I always found that term to be somewhat daunting and mysterious when it was discussed in English lessons at school, which rather hindered my understanding of the concept—although it is not that complicated. Hopefully I got it right enough here!
Yes, I remember reading about iambic pentamer (a wonderful word) when I pretended to have written an entire book of poetry, sometime last year.
Hopefully one day you will!
The bane of English students everywhere! I've always thought it might stick better if they also gave examples of what iambic pentameter does not look like, e.g.
×/×/×/×/×/
Shall /I/ com/pare/ thee /to/ a /sum/mer's /day?/
Very pretty! Vs a mangled:
///××/×/×/
/Should I say/ you are /love/ly /as/ the /day?/
I probably don't have the rhythm right on that, but whatever it is it's not iambic. Perhaps I should pivot to a career as an overzealous English teacher.
Ah, these are gorgeous! And lots of bonus points for the symmetrical arrangement.
Thank you! Your symmetry appreciation is appreciated and I shall gladly take on those bonus points. (Although full marks would surely have come for threading a common theme through each piece… the one about ducks sort of throws that away at the end!)
Not so, I reckon you can make it work! Failures of communication, general thwartedness, etc. etc.
A little more wistful, and you're looking at 110%.
110%? It does not get any higher than that!