A Toy and Flower Sonnet (Petrarchan)

Hi, poetry lovers.

It's been a while since I didn't post a poem, although I've been writing some (which never seem OK to me).

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As you may know, a Petrarchan sonnet contains one octave and one sestet (or two tercets) for a total of fourteen lines. It follows a rhyme scheme ABBABBA CDECDE, and its rhythm is iambic pentameter (five metrical feet which sound ta-TA); you may want to have this in mind so you can have a pleasant reading, and better if you read it aloud—if you ask me. This is the structure I felt like trying for my poem. Below the piece, you can see why (if you are interested).

Arranging Daffodils by Carl Christian Frederik Jacob Thomsen, 1894

A Toy and Flower Sonnet

                                     The poet speaks of roses, lilies gay,
                                     bright daffodils and multicolor beds,
                                     like rainbows all their hues of light had bled,
                                     good natured sweets which glad adorn his day.
                                     Simply and pale the trough of thought will stay,
                                     the blacks and whites picked in the bucket fed
                                     with dull remains all gray as if stone dead,
                                     imaginations withered in their play.

                                     I wish I could erase all blissful verses,
                                     so I could be the first to bring these joys.
                                     My selfishness is shy and hypothetic;
                                     fear not the envy that my tongue rehearses,
                                     for ingenuities make finest toys,
                                     which make delusion seem quite less pathetic.

Water Liliesby Oscar-Claude Monet, n.d.

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About the Form and Meaning of This Poem

Sonnets are almost eight hundred years old and poets have been creative in their arrangement. I have chosen the Petrarchan form to compose “A Toy and Flower Sonnet” because of two reasons: I liked the sound better, given the words I wanted to use; and I definitely needed the typical structure of argument, plus volta, plus solution in order for readers to appreciate the irony of the conclusion which does not solve the problem.

Traditionally, a Petrachan sonnet presents the reader with a problem, proposition or question in the octave; then it adds a volta (the turn) towards the ninth line to provide a change of tone and signal the coming of the solution or answer. The pause that we make between the octave and the sestet welcomes the change introduced by the volta, and so the reader can guess a relationship must be established between the two stanzas in order for them to get the meaning of the poem: an argument has been stated.

“Toy and Flower Sonnet” speaks of the poets’ struggle as they pursue a drop of originality to add in their compositions. In the end, they feel their job would be easier had poetry ever been less prolific.

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