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Tuesday, August 11, 2015

Of Love: A Sonnet



Of Love: A Sonnet
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?
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5 comments:

  1. silvereagleAugust 11, 2015 at 9:03 AM

    Ten lines and not fourteen lines

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. JoeAugust 11, 2015 at 10:20 AM

      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."

      Delete
  2. SusanAugust 11, 2015 at 10:22 AM

    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! :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. JoeAugust 11, 2015 at 10:32 AM

      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.

      Delete
  3. StudsAugust 11, 2015 at 11:24 AM

    Joe, that's wonderful. Absolutely loved that! ^_^
    I have no idea what's wrong with it, tho. Haha!

    ReplyDelete

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