Brothers:
Over the course of the year, we've been dealing with a lot of poetry, perhaps without even recognizing it.
As we have done this, you may not have been aware of the underlying structure in such poetry for establishing cadence (that is, tone), rhythm, and meaning.
We must keep in mind the importance of learning to read poetry by writing it ourselves.
That said, I ask you to take on the 14-line, Shakespearean sonnet formula (iambic pantemter; ABAB CDCD EFEF GG) while modifying the text to suit your own needs and subject matter related to the deeply emotional experiences presented in Shakespeare’s sonnets:
· Time
· Death
· Love
· Friendship
Your focus should be centered on issues of RELATIONSHIP!
Thus, you will want to evoke a whole range of emotional experiences from joy to despair; from love-loss to the fulfillment of love; from loneliness to peace; from depression to happiness.Be sure to pay attention to how Shakespeare uses the sonnet to “bring the fundamental experiences of life—time, death, love, and friendship—into tight focus" (TV 250).
DUE Friday, May 15 by class time: blog or hard copy.
Below is an example from my own in-class writing on the theme of spiritual transformation (from life to death to life):
The promised land awaits in the silent
Growth of the fruits of God's great love.
On this Western front all time is thus spent
In the white mist of reverie above
Wherein I seek only what's beautiful
In scope of truth in sound that sings a song--
This melody is a momentary lull
Into scapes of dreaming so deep and long,
Where human deserts become oases.
Barren and dry hearts are like thirst quenched.
Where sullen countenance of death ceases
To shade all that was once prefigured
In the advent of your second coming--
A story of death to birth succumbing.
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11 comments:
Joe Rabel
Bro. Peach
Brit.Lit. 141
May 14, 2009
Sonnet 1
Love is a cold depressing emotion
It can distort your internal senses
So the next time you’re in love take caution
It destroys your thoughts and self-defenses
Love can easily take your life away
Caught somewhere in-between the truth and lies
Living a lie of happiness today
Not willing enough to say your goodbyes
But not only the side of depressing
Also there is a side of contentment
All of the laughing hugging and smiling
Though through my pain there is no resentment
Do not grieve all the good you have felt
And be glad with the hand that you’ve been dealt
Brett Pippens
Bro. Peach
Eng141/07
5/13/2009
Sonnet 1
As dangerous as she is becoming
I still know i can handle her real well
And loving her is nothing but a thing
But losing her would surely just be hell
In an attempt to give her all my heart
I must know I can only play my role
To do this i must give her my heart
And on the side i must give her my soul
She and I together can't just be friends
So she and I must come to compromise
To stick it out with her until the end
And give my all to her until we die
Her beauty is like the wings of a dove
So spread them oput and I'll give her my love
Devon Mancini
Bro Peach
Brit lit/ eng 141
5/14/09
Summer Sonnet
How happy I am that this day is here
Finally school is out, thank god, the lord
Now free for three months to run with no fear
The months of summer are very adored
Relaxing with the ladies by the pool
Hanging with the boys down by the big lake
Chilling with mister Pres, Fuchs, the big tool
No homework to fret you, nor tests to take
Laying around all day, soaking up sun
Being bad, breaking rules, causing trouble
No matter what we always have big fun
I like it when we lay here and cuddle
Nearing the end, I will surely miss it
Now the time is here, back to school, Aw shit
Brian Fuchs
Brother Robert Kemmer Peach, FSC
ENG 141.07
May 15th
Here and Gone
Your embrace distorts my balance and sight/
Whenever we meet I lose self control/
I ut'lize your grasp every weekend night/
Ever present on that grassy knoll/
Some call you devil but I call you friend/
I find you at home,with friends, at the Rock/
When I need a moral boost, you attend/
To reach you, through the woods I slowly walk/
Great times, big smiles, filling my heart with joy/
Than you leave, reality must return/
Descend from lofty god to a lost boy/
Head starts spinning, stomach begins to burn/
Your momentary burst of omnip'tence/
To remove your stains and smell i will rinse/
BAMMMMMM!!!!!!!!!!!
J. Harry Farina
Bro. Peach
Brit.Lit. 141
May 14, 2009
Tradgedy at the Rink Sonnet 2.5
It was stick time and i was ready,
I made sure not to bend it up.
Kretz was keeping his skates awful steady,
Awful shame i fell on my shoulder cup.
It hurt so bad but I didn't cry 'tall,
I went to the lockeroom to hide now.
I thought this day was to be wonderful,
Had my shoulder been struck bay a mad cow?
Rushed to the hospital the x-ray showed,
My collar bone had broken, oh no!
Distorted, it was now completly bowed.
My day could not get any worse- so low.
Yet my chores were no longer my concern,
I love comming to school to laugh and learn!
O' eternal plague of solomn darkness,
I fight thee with devine inspiration,
but your grip is like a secure harness,
as if you hold the reigns of infliction.
I resist your temptation of release,
and kneel in prayer to the almighty one,
that he might lift this burdon of decease,
and enlighten me with good left undone.
The pain coupled with the fear of despair,
is what I thirst in place of this numbness.
I crave for just one breath of crisp fresh air,
for it might relieve me of this dumbness.
But no, I shall not grieve with this, my dread,
perhaps it is only in my own head
Branford Phillips
Bro. Peach
British Lit.
5/15/09
Sonnet of Time
Time is a river that always runs on
The current is too powerful to bear
Th memories that we find quite fond
Are washed away along with the year
The many acomplishments of today
Will be engraved into history now
Whatever we will do and what I say
Will nothing more than unseen sound
Our beloved families and colleuges
Fragments of the far future or past
Everything subcomes eventually
This beautiful life will never last
We look back and creation withers
Go forward to the saddening future
James McDonough
Brother Peach
British Lit.
May 14, 2009
Sonnet 155
The overwhelming desire of past,
A nostalgia takes hold with such a cost
Trying to make our dear memories last.
Only time spent wishing is time spent lost.
What time does not control is out of reach.
To those of us who learn this take away
The only great lesson time has to teach.
This acceptance washes us of dismay.
As we grow and contemplate these thoughts,
It becomes easier to make amends
With letting go of the paths we once sought
And saying goodbye to childhood friends
As our dear friend George Orwell had once said,
With concern to yearning, “We are the dead.”
Mike Kretz
Bro. Peach
Brit. Lit./Eng 141
May 14, 2009
Sonnet 1
When the leaves are gone in the winter time
A game is played over a sheet of ice
One gets two minutes for doing a crime
For giving a bruise, a cut, or a slice
You sit alone, for what seems like a year
Breathing heavy, you take a nice long rest
The fans can be heard, calling you a queer
They are not quiet, they're some of the best
You look at the clock, and its winding down
Only a couple more ticks until its done
But you're still mad at the refs from this town
Another peek you see 3, 2, and 1
Before you know it, the time hits zero
You score a goal and become the hero
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