Writer in San Francisco, CA
A Note About This Poem: Questioning how we ‘see’ our dreams, how we ‘talk’ about them (to ourselves or to people). The strange occurrence when dreams seem to have a plotline (a story to tell) and how we think about these stories as somehow linked to each other.
Eyes wash lips hold
secrets unfold, unfolding
like dreams that link
together into visions
that linger, simmering
in the back of the brain.
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(Link for History of Villanelles)
A Villanelle is comprised of nineteen lines, 5 stanzas of three lines each with a final stanza of four lines, the rhyme scheme is aba
here’s where it gets tricky,
1st line of 1st stanza repeats as the last line in the 2nd and 4th stanzas
3rd line of the 1st stanza is repeated as the last line in the 3rd and 5th stanzas
The 1st and 3rd line of the 1st stanza become the 2nd to last and final line of the poem
(source: The Making of a Poem)
A basic outline of the first nine lines would look something like this,
1st line, rhyme scheme a
2nd line, rhyme scheme b
3rd line, rhyme scheme a
4th line, a
5th line, b
1st line (repeated), a
6th line, a
7th line, b
3rd line (repeated), a
…and so on.
I have been having fun with the Villanelle lately and trying to write a few of my own. I have one pretty much fleshed out but it is not near done enough to post yet. But here is an example villanelle.
Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
source: poets.org
Other sources/resources:
New Rhyming Dictionary and Poets Handbook
The Making of a Poem: A Norton Anthology of Poetic Forms
Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics
Thank you for reading! Please feel free to follow or subscribe!
-Alina
Blossoming eyes losing
focus on the edges of photographs,
blur me out, hollow and sweet
like pitted nectarines.
A Note About this Poem: I imagined an old photograph with girls smiling, happy, and joyful but the knowledge that they all must be dead or alive somewhere very very old weighs the photograph down.
Thank you for reading! Please follow or subscribe to read more poems!
-Alina
The sun dies down and
I am slowly eclipsing
who I used to be. Will
you burn like evergreens
in the summer? Will you
hold onto the fingers, the
hands that pulled you
into this world? Will you
let them take you out?
A Note About this Poem: For this poem, I was inspired by forest fires in California and the responsibility our parents have over us when we are born and (in rare cases) if they are alive to experience our passing, I think one of the saddest experiences has to be losing your child. Somehow in my mind, there is a connection between the two subjects, losing forests to summer fires and losing children.
Thank you for reading! Please follow to subscribe to read more poems!
-Alina
There are Two Major Sonnet Forms: Petrarchan and Shakespearean
The Basic Form of a Sonnet is Fourteen Lines in Iambic
[ U unstressed syllable / stressed syllable ]
[ u/ u/ u/ u/ u/ ] x14
Petrarchan (Italian)
Eight lines (Octave)
Rhyme Scheme: ababcdcd
Six Lines (Sestet)
Rhyme Scheme: cdecde
Example Petrarchan Sonnet:
The Poet Petrarch (Origin of the Petrarchan Sonnet)
Ways apt and new to sing of love I’d find, A Forcing from her hard heart full many a sigh, B And re-enkindle in her frozen mind A Desires a thousand, passionate and high; B O’er her fair face would see each swift change pass, C See her fond eyes at length where pity reigns, D As one who sorrows when too late, alas! C For his own error and another’s pains; D See the fresh roses edging that fair snow C Move with her breath, that ivory descried, D Which turns to marble him who sees it near; E See all, for which in this brief life below C Myself I weary not but rather pride D That Heaven for later times has kept me here. E
Source: poets.org
Shakespearean (English)
No Octave/Sestet structure
Rhyme Scheme: ababcdcdefefgg
Note: final couplet (gg) is a key part of this type of sonnet
Example Shakespearean Sonnet:
My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun; A
Coral is far more red than her lips’ red; B
If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun; A
If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head. B
I have seen roses damasked, red and white, C
But no such roses see I in her cheeks; D
And in some perfumes is there more delight C
Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks. D
I love to hear her speak, yet well I know E
That music hath a far more pleasing sound; F
I grant I never saw a goddess go; E
My mistress when she walks treads on the ground. F
And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare G
As any she belied with false compare. G
Source: poets.org
One of my favorite poets/writers who wrote sonnets is Edna St. Vincent Millay
Source: allpoetry.com
There are many adaptations to the original sonnet forms of the past. As you can see from the poem (above) by Millay which contains a variation of the traditional rhyme schemes found in both the Petrarchan and Shakespearean. Her sonnets are often funny and extremely witty about subjects that were considered slightly risky at her time (1920’s).
Other Sources/References used:
The Making of a Poem: A Norton Anthology of Poetic Forms
Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics
Collected Sonnets by Edna St. Vincent Millay
Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed this brief and basic discussion of Sonnets.
-Alina