new form every day... Cornish Sonnet (day 23 of 365 in 365)

2011-01-23 09:19

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FRIENDSHIP'S PATH

we’ve been this route before
we’ll be this way again
traveling through these doors
knowing what we find there
not lovers but as friends
the beauty of life to share
hand in hand, side by side
through all the ups and downs
the ebb and flow of tides
holding on as we’re spun
this precious thing we’ve found
always better with someone
the beauty of life to share
always better with someone



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From: http://www.thepoetsgarret.com/list.html


Cornish Sonnet


At the same time as travelers were influencing the courts and introducing the sonnet form to England, France and Spain, traders in the southern ports of England were also bringing in their own forms of poetry. These forms consisted of hybrid poetry influenced by those Arab traders who plied their trade with the ports along the Mediterranean and the tin mines of Cornwall. It is only natural that they would come into contact with the sonnet form and in time come up with a fusion of that form This sonnet form is similar to the hybrid poetry that emerged from that part of the world.

The form consists of two, three couplets stanzas and a refrain made up of the first line of each stanza.
A. b. a. c. b. c.... D. e. d. f. e. f.... A. D.

As an alternative, the last line can be used and gives a rhyme pattern of
a. b. a. c. b. C.... d. e. d. f. e. F.... C. F.

Although purists state all sonnets should be Iambic Pentameter, any meter or line length may be used, as long as all the lines are of similar length and meter.


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OK so I skipped a few days there on the new form every day and just wrote free verse (most of which I did not post) BUT I'M BACK! :-)



PERSONAL NOTE ON THE PROCESS:

These rhyming forms get me when I am trying to fit into the syllable count or stay in a certain range plus this one had the rhymes mildly out of sync so that made it more challenging for me. In the end I did it and hopefully by the end of the year I will be able to write in forms in my own voice instead of this forced and stilted way that I feel the writing is coming off so far. Wish me luck! :-)



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