Robert Herrick, 1591 - 1674
How love came in I do not know,
Whether by the eye, or ear, or no;
Or whether with the soul it came
(At first) infused with the same;
Whether in part ’tis here or there,
Or, like the soul, whole everywhere,
This troubles me: but I as well
As any other this can tell:
That when from hence she does depart
The outlet then is from the heart.
Though beautiful, I want to see if any of you can figure out what is wrong with this poem. I would say that I'd give a prize to the person who figured it out, but I have no idea what kind of prize I could give. If you had taken my class in English Literature, you'd know instantly what the problem with this poem is. Any guesses?
5 comments:
Ten lines and not fourteen lines
Ding, ding, ding, you are correct. Also it's not in iambic pentameter nor does it follow one of the established rhyming schemes. Of course this would have been a very early English sonnet and could just be a "little song," not a sonnet as we define it.
*Sonnet translates from Italian to mean "little song."
I agree with silvereagle. Plus the rhyming sequence isn't the norm for what I have seen in sonnets.
Joe, you should consider giving an online English Lit class. I'm interested! :)
Susan, not only do I love poetry in general, but I especially love poetic forms. You have to be a true master of words to create a good poem following specific rules like for the sonnet. Some are even more complex than the sonnet such as the villanelle. Maybe I will do a series of poetic forms for the next several weeks and do a few many lessons. It might bore some people but some of you who like wordplay may enjoy it.
Joe, that's wonderful. Absolutely loved that! ^_^
I have no idea what's wrong with it, tho. Haha!
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