One of my parishioners emails regularly, often asking questions on all sorts of matters. One night the email asked about sonnets: how they work, what they are … things like that. I was glad it was sonnets she asked about because it is about the only form I can discuss with any confidence. When our Moon Notes editor, Char, suggested I discuss a form in this column, I began to muse over the sonnet a bit more.

I find the sonnet magical in its power, though that may derive from an early acquaintance with it, and an extended study of its use in my hands as well as my reading. It seems to me to allow significant space for development while demanding a discipline of cadence and balance that compacts the poet’s soul into the explosive context of a new-minted word. I almost wrote ‘world’ … and that would have been proper in its own right.

Everyone agrees that sonnets have 14 lines. That part is easy. The classical sonnet groups those fourteen lines in either of two ways: an octet and a sestet for the Italian, sometimes Petrarchian form; three quatrains and couplet for the Shakespearian form.

In the Italian sonnet, the rhyme scheme is abba cddc efg efg. Some take it more strictly and insist that the two quatrains in the octet share the same rhymes, as also the two tercets in the sestet. Personally, I take the more lenient path. In contrast, the Shakespearian form adopts the scheme abab cdcd efef gg. Again there are those who are more strict, keeping the abab form for all three quatrains. Another, non-traditional form has been used successfully: abccba deffed gg; Mitchell Geller has posted several fine sonnets in this form on desertmoonreview.

Traditionally, the English sonnet appears in iambic pentameter. The iamb, of course, is an unaccented syllable followed by an accented one. Variations on the iamb occur. At times, the opening unaccented syllable is dropped; again an unaccented syllable may be added at the end of the line (a so called feminine ending, in which, strictly speaking, the rhyme would include both the last accented syllable and the trailing unaccented one). Again, the inclusion of occasional anapests is quite normal, acceptable in classic practice. In all of these variations in rhythm, the basic or background pattern is the iambic pentameter – five accents per line, usually in the iambic pattern. Some contemporary writers of sonnets adopt the syllable count for measuring the line: ten syllables per line being the norm.

Classically, the quatrain (and certainly the octet in the Italian sonnet) contains a given idea. For the Shakespearian sonnet, the development of three ideas flow to a completion in the couplet; the couplet may stand in contrast to the flow of the quatrains or function as a summary of the prior development. Similarly, the Italian sonnet would develop two parts of a statement in the two quatrains of the octet which would be answered in the sestet, often with nuances divided between the tercets.

In strict terms, there would not be enjambments from quatrain to quatrain; I find in effective contemporary sonnets that a certain degree of enjambment works well. There is an art here, however, in that the integrity of the sonnet form is threatened as the extent of that enjambment grows from a few words to a line or more, even to swallowing the whole second quatrain into the idea of the first. Such swallowing, it seems to me, can be tolerated in the Italian octet with less damage to the integrity of the form than in the Shakespearian model because of the way the Italian octet is classically played over against the sestet while the Shakespearian quatrains take on a more or less linear evolution toward the concluding couplet. To enjamb from the octet to the sestet of the Italian form of the sonnet does serious damage to the integrity of the sonnet form, in my opinion; I would consider it a violation of the sonnet form.

With Mitchell’s two sestet and a couplet form, he regularly holds to the one idea per sestet, using the couplet in the same way as does the Shakespearian sonnet.

The sonnet lives as a form by a wedding of tradition to flexibility. To write one, it seems to me that there is an inhabiting of the form and its rhythms by the mind of the poet so that the symbiosis of the mind and the form wield the artistic energy involved so as to yield the sonnet product.

My personal opinion on the sonnet form leans to the cadence of the basically iambic flow, one that syllable count never manages to produce in my ear. The scale of the iambic pentameter and the ideational rhythm of the quatrain patterns in either of the basic forms (or the sestet patterns in Mitchell’s variation), within a modest flexibility, seems to me to provide the fundamental identity/integrity of the sonnet form: disciplined grace.

Bill Flewelling

New Editor for Moon Notes

Desert Moon has a new editor for the monthly newsletter. Charlene Dewbre, who attempted the role once before, is taking up the reins again. "We have some interesting changes in store," she says. We look forward to seeing what those may be, and if some of those changes will come from the DMR Idea Bank.

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Our Three Poets Representing Desert Moon in This Month's IBPC

Thank you all for voting for the choices to represent Desert Moon Review at the Interboard Poetry Competition for this month. Our three poems going to IBPC for September are:

"Cracking" by Tiel Aisha Ansari

"Shura" by Laurie Byro

"Enough" by Mitchell Geller

Congratulations to all the poets who were nominated this month. The entire list of nominated poems, by nominator, is as follows--

• "Cracking" by Tiel Aisha Ansari -- nominated by Fred Longworth
• "Shura" by Laurie Byro -- nominated by Allen M. Weber
• "Silver Apples" by Laurie Byro -- nominated by Mitchell Geller
• "Enough" by Mitchell Geller -- nominated by Laurie Byro
• "Keeping My Cool" by Sarah Sloat -- nominated by Guy Kettelhack
• "Room by the Week" by Sarah Sloat -- nominated by Laurie Byro

Sarah tells me that "Room by the Week" has been selected by Frugal Poet to go to IBPC. Good luck with that poem, Sarah. And good luck to the representatives from Desert Moon Review: Tiel, Laurie, and Mitchell. It seems to me there is going to be some particularly brisk competition between talented poets this month.

Success for Desert Moon in the August IBPC!

In the August IBPC, Laurie Byro's "Salt" received an honorable mention. Other DMR poets recognized with honorable mentions were Yolanda Calderon-Horn with "The Smoking Room" representing The Writers Block and Guy Kettelhack with "Voices" representing About.com's Poetry Forum. Well done, Laurie, Yoly, and Guy! The full August results with recognized poems and judge's comments can be read in our IBPC thread.

Chris George, Editor

Experiencing any troubles with the DMR site or getting in touch with an administrator?

If you're experiencing any technical difficulties, please be sure to send a message to HELP at Desert Moon.

Internet Poetry Forums: A Personal Journey

As some of you may know, my personal background is that I am originally from Liverpool, England. My introduction to reading and writing poetry dates from when I re-emigrated to the United States to attend Loyola College in Baltimore in 1968, after having gone back to the UK to live with my grandparents for some years. I had already done some early writing in England, so it seemed natural when I came back to the United States to attend college to become part of the literary scene at Loyola. Later I headed the Maryland State Poetry Society and became involved in the local poetry scene in Baltimore, reading at marathon poetry readings at the Maryland College of Art and so on -- forerunners of today's "slam" events. The facilitator of those readings was Maryland College of Art instructor Joe Cardarelli, a friend of Allen Ginsberg and host to other beat poets when they visited the city.

In the early and mid-1990's I eschewed poetry writing and was involved mainly in history writing, leading to the publication of my book, Terror on the Chesapeake: The War of 1812 on the Bay published by White Mane Publishing Company in 2000.

Meanwhile, though, having discovered the Internet, I rekindled my interest in poetry by researching poetry sites I heard about in news groups, finding my way to Alsop Review's Gazebo, Able Muse's Eratosphere, and Melic Review.

It was in meeting Jim Corner at Gazebo in 2001 that led to me coming to Desert Moon Review which has remained "home base" for me ever since. In the meanwhile, though, I have joined other forums such as Writer's Block and Wild Poetry Forum. I also served for a time as moderator of the poem-a-day forum at Blueline -- a good way to keep the poetic juices flowing. Another place I have found very rewarding has been the community involvement forums at Wild Poetry Forum where I have been involved in writing chain ghazals, cinquains, tankas, limericks, and modified haiku, which I have found to be excellent practice to help one to develop and mature as a poet. The weekly poetry challenges at Wild are also recommended.

I would encourage our members to follow the links here on our Desert Moon Review links page to find your way to these and other forums to discover what is out there. I know it has certainly helped me to grow as a poet to explore what is offered on different poetry sites regarding challenges, publishing opportunities, and new forms of poetry. Additionally, of course, it is instructive to read other poets' work and to see what they are writing.

Most recently, I have found my way back to the Baltimore poetry scene by appearing at a couple of readings and joining the "Poetry in Baltimore" website run by Julie Fisher, at http://www.poetryinbaltimore.com. So, in some ways my story has come full circle. I do live in Baltimore so I do think it is important to involve myself in the local scene. Not only for my own growth but also because I am now co-editor at Loch Raven Review with fellow Marylander Jim Doss. The magazine, which is both electronic and printed, is named for a historic reservoir north of Baltimore. We are going to hold some Loch Raven Review readings, the first of which will be Friday, October 6, at 8:00 pm in the 52 Fridays series at the Load Of Fun Gallery in downtown Baltimore at 120 W. North Avenue. For more info, contact julie@poetryinbaltimore.com or call 443-418-4762.

Chris George, Editor