Dear Umashankar: It's important to keep in mind that the sonnet is a form that has evolved, and continues to evolve. A 15 line sonnet is not a traditional sonnet; the main stream of the sonnet tradition in several languages, say from the 16th to the 20th century, always comprises 14 lines; that is, an octet and a sestet. Is it any different with Bengali sonnets? In between the octet and the sestet is the most essential aspect of the sonnet, that is, the "volta", or the turn-- that is, when the meaning or the thrust makes a twist. There are many different ways to do this, but it's important. Apart from this turn, Shakespeare of course did an extra somersault at the end with the couplet.
Modern experimental sonnets do not necessarily have rhyme schemes, but that's getting into advanced territory, free jazz, and if you want be John Coltrane it makes sense to practice your scales first. Generally there is a rhyme scheme, which has a very concrete effect on the meaning of the poem (eg., is there a couplet at the end?) - the two most common, Shakespearean and Petrarchan. There are many others; and eventually it may make sense to let the rhyme scheme develop organically in the flow of the writing of the poem as Auden does. (Auden also wrote, I think, the first unrhymed sonnet-- but by the time he did he had been breathing sonnets and sleeping with sonnets for a while) As for more advanced territory, we could start with George Meredith (19th c.) who wrote interesting sixteen line sonnets that still feel very much like sonnets (the very cool, intense sequence, "Modern Love"). Gerald Stern has 12 line "American sonnets" but both of these cats surely wrote a lot of 14 line sonnets to get a deep feel for the form before they ventured out into this territory. But I can't think of anyone who did a 15 line sonnet-- who was it? It would depend on how it was actualised in the poetic flesh, of course, but something in me militates against a sonnet breaking into three like that. It doesn't seem to work like a sonnet ought to-- where does the volta go? Keep in mind that syllable counts are not the only way to measure a line. You can do it in beats-- tapping it out, as Jane noted, and that gives a little more rhythmic flexibility while keeping the cadence. The conventional English sonnet has five beats to ten syllables per line; the French sonnets have the alexandrine, 12 syls to six beat lines. Hopkins (Gerald Manley) wrote hypermetrical sonnets, with insanely long lines in addition to his "sonnet variants". He was weird, God bless him. But in the English, the beat count and not the syllable count is more what's, in practice, tapped out and important-- that only really changed with Marianne Moore's "syllabic metre", where the number of syllables and not the metre counts. The value of counting a sonnet by beats is that you don't have to stick with iambic feet (which you would more or less have to do if you if you went with 5 beats - 10 syls) and you can work more around how long it actually takes to say a line, have shifts within the line. I've been pretty influenced by the six beat line, often without a strict syllable count; the In Church poem alternates between five beats and six beats and then into 4 beats in the very last line, for a particular reason. Bending the rules, after all those conventional sonnets I wrote. This having been said, it is interesting to think that the greatest amount of innovation and flexibility happened in the very first century of the sonnet's invention, when it first became a craze-- that was Italy, 12th century, if I remember correctly. You had several possible rhyme schemes floating around; and, as a fun trick, each of the fourteen lines of the sonnet could have a "tail", that is, an indented extra line that sort of extended it-- so while a sonnet was still technically 14 lines, in practice it could be up to 28! For more info, the Wikipedia article looks pretty good. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonnet umashankar mantravadi wrote: > here is a sonnet like poem; one of the earliest in a series i have not > concluded. this was written probably in 1973. > > (the rules are simple: 15 lines or 14 lines: broken into 5-5-5 or > 4-4-3-3. > ten syllables per line. a 11th syllable if it is necessary and the > line is > still readable. > > > umashankar > > > of the cold night air. some smoke lies curled on > the ground. smoke from cars cigarette ends and > dying windcast candlewicks lies lazy > curled on the ground. dry mistless clear night air > rises above a sleepless twisted world > the cold night air of a more delinquent > time of lies and deceits. I am not good > enough for you. said not as believed truth > but as an offering. I am even > willing to say that for you. no not truth > the blue smoke that unfurls from the grey smoke > curled close to the ground. uncurl my fingers. > nothing derived from the shape of a clenched > hand approximates your warmth. ground upward > the cold night air is mistless, twisted, clear > August 10, 1973 > > _________________________________________________________________ > Meet interesting singles like you > http://match.msn.co.in/match/mt.cfm?pg=channel&tcid=234764 > <http://match.msn.co.in/match/mt.cfm?pg=channel&tcid=234764> Sign up with > Match.com > > > > -- > You are encouraged to post poetry, respond critically to the poems > circulated and participate in discussions. To post, email your message > to [email protected] OR post online at > http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTPoets/post/ > > Tell friends to subscribe to ZESTPoets by sending a blank email to > [EMAIL PROTECTED], OR, if they have a Yahoo! 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