Welcome to the Weekend Mini Challenge with
Kim from Writing in North Norfolk.
We haven’t had a sonnet prompt for a while and I recently
discovered a beautiful one by Sylvia Townsend Warner, who was
born in 1893 and died in 1978. Although she's best known for her historical
novels, Warner was also a poet.
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| Image from Wikipedia |
This particular sonnet struck me because of its
exploration of the colour blue in the first stanza and the emotions expressed
in the shorter second stanza.
‘To no believable
blue I turn my eyes’
To no believable
blue I turn my eyes
Blinded with
sapphire, watchet, gentian,
Shadow on snow,
Mediterranean,
Midsummer or midwinter-moonlight
skies.
Unstained by sight,
unravished by surmise,
And uttering into
the void her ban,
Her boast, her
being – I know not a man!
Out of all thought the virgin colour
flies.
After her, soul!
Have in unhaving, peace,
Let thy lacklight
lighten upon thee, read
So well thy
sentence that it spells release,
Explore thy chain,
importune suns to cede
News of thy dark –
joyed with thy doom’s increase,
And only by distinction of fetters
freed.
Sylvia Townsend
Warner
This weekend I would like you to write a NEW sonnet based on a
colour of your choice. It could be your favourite colour, a colour that has a
special meaning, a seasonal colour – it’s up to you. The challenge is to write
it in two stanzas: in the first, explore the colour and in the second, express
emotion(s) awakened by the colour. It can be a classic sonnet or a modern sonnet.
Join our rainbow of sonnets by clicking on Mister Linky and
filling in your name and url – not forgetting to click the small ‘data’ box.
And please remember to read and comment on other toads’ poems – otherwise they’ll
be blue.
Eeep! I've never written a sonnet! Holy smokes! LOL ... well, this is a challenge. An interesting one, for the colour content, - as for the form ... *snorting with delight* ... well, let's see, how "serious" do I have to be?
ReplyDeleteOkay, I've done some research and I think, I'll just run with what I've quickly penned ~ I chose a Petrarchan version, to offer some structure. And well, I've tried to sort of answer the challenge, but maybe not as clearly split in "explore the colour" and then "express the emotions." So this is my first attempt, and maybe later I'll work on it a bit more.
It was fun and kind of weird at the same time ~ and I appreciate the challenge Kim. It definitely has expanded my mind and horizons, and I do enjoy colours so much. Anyhow, thanks for hosting this weekend mini-challenge - and I ask my fellow poets forgiveness for my feeble attempts.
Yay.. a sonnet challenge... I will try to get it done before bedtime.
ReplyDeleteThat's a delightful challenge, Kim. Also, I found the poem quite alluring.
ReplyDeleteI find iambs and other rhythmic verses rather restricting; so I have followed the Shakespearean rhyme scheme and 10-syllable structure, with a natural free-flowing rhythm. Hope my interpretation is up to the mark though — I have taken inspiration from it to begin and end it on the said notes. The middle is an amalgam of one and all. Ha!
Happy Weekend!
Thank you for this challenge Kim! As I find iambs and rhymes so restricting, I have done a free form sonnet. A rather Japanese-y sonnet. A free form sonnet is 14 lines, that is all. There are lots of colors too - a rainbow!
ReplyDeleteThanks for this terrific prompt. I'd just written in my diary of the need for challenge and - ta da - it arrives.
ReplyDeleteThank you. I took creative license as I really am horrid at rhyming... I hope it met enough "rules and regs" for a modern sonnet... ?
ReplyDeleteI havent written a sonnet in a long time and quite enjoyed it. But I stayed up late to write it, so will come around and read everyone's in the morning. Smiles.
ReplyDeleteI adore sonnets! They have been a particular passion of mine, both to read and write. I have not yet found time this weekend to sit down and put words together, but I hope to have something to share before it is over.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry I'm so late adding my sonnet, reading and commenting but I've been in Oxford since Thursday night. I thought I'd be back a little earlier but just got home in pouring rain! I spent some time in the Ashmolean Museum, looking at a whole range of interesting stuff from Egyptian mummies to modern art, and the two main libraries in Oxford: the famous Bodleian Library, full of history and beautiful architecture, and the New Bodleian, also known as the Weston Library, where I saw a great exhibition on women, from Sappho to Suffragette, but couldn't get into the Tolkien exhibition as it was far too busy. I am really looking forward to reading the sonnets this afternoon, and getting back to normal with our two cats: we collected them from the cattery on the way home and are in need of some cat cuddles!
ReplyDeleteI'm envious, Kim. We were with friends from Towster (Northamptonshire) and he drove us through Oxford but we didn't even stop for us to touch the dirt. But we do get a long hour a week visiting Oxford on TV with Inspector Lewis. Thanks for the Sonnet assignment. I enjoyed making rhyme again though a little was "loose rhyme." A lot of the stuff I write is 14 lines but eight syllables instead of ten. Thank you again. I'm still jealous.
ReplyDelete..
Thank you for the inspiration. I doubt mine is much like a sonnet, but it is a poem of color.
ReplyDeleteSo very late for the weekend challenge and a little early for Tuesday...
ReplyDeleteI'm late, but had to give this a try. Thanks Kim, for the wonderful challenge.
ReplyDelete