a contest

okay all you writers, here's a little contest. i'd like to see who can write the best sonnet. yep, that's right, sonnet. like shakespeare. i'll explain the framework and you can go at it on whatever topic you choose. the winner will be named super-sonnetier and i will design a superhero logo for you.

there is another type of sonnet, some italian version, but we're going to focus on the english type, or the 'shakespearian sonnet'. i'll use one of my sonnets as an example to explain the structure.

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there four sections in a sonnet. the first three sections are identical in form. they each have four lines. the first and third lines rhyme with each other, and the second and fourth rhyme with each other. like this...

how is it everything leads back to you
and all my thoughts collide here in my head
i struggle to dismiss what's all too true
and long to think of something else instead

***
the last two lines are called a "rhyming couplett", which just means the end of both lines rhyme with each other. like this...

how can i let you have such sole command
of that you do not know is in your hand

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each line should be in iambic pentameter, which simply means that each line must have ten syllables and the accent falls on every other syllable, starting with the second. like this...

how(1) is(2) it(3) eve(4)-ry(5)-thing(6)
leads(7) back(8) to(9) you(10)

did you follow that? ok. now that you see the structure, here is the whole thing...

lovely pain

how is it everything leads back to you
and all my thoughts collide here in my head
i struggle to dismiss what's all too true
and long to think of something else instead

but sweet contentment is by you defined
and in my dreams you are my one retreat
awake or sleeping my heart always finds
to free myself of you an empty feat

my giving in will not remove this pain
and waking takes me not from your sweet voice
but mastery of my mind i must regain
with all my heart at stake i have no choice

how can i let you have such sole command
of that you do not know is in your hand

the challenge with all writing is to talk about the same old things we humans never tire of pondering and discussing, love, pain, beauty, relationships and so on, and give them a fresh and new expression. the thing i like best about writing a sonnet (i told jake this on his blog...which, by the way, spawned this post) is that you take a very rigid structure and you say something in a completely original way.

so comeon, make ol' william proud. write a sonnet.