Sonnets for your valentine

The sonnet is a fourteen line poem, written in iambic pentameter. Its rhyming scheme is abab, cdcd, efef, gg. Sounds easy enough, right? NOT!

My favorite sonnet writer is Edna St. Vincent Millay. Millay's poetry became famous in the 1920s, and she, like many women in her era, were not shy about the fact they had a multitude of lovers. After all, it was the era of flappers, and bathtub gin, and the Charleston.

Edna St. Vincent Millay

Those of us that grew up in the 1970s and 1980s, (and like the characters in "Because You're the First")during the post-sexual revolution of the 1960s, can relate to this on varying levels. (I personally admit to nothing!) But I do admit my all-time favorite sonnet is Millay's Sonnet XLIII, that goes like this:

What lips my lips have kissed, and where, and why, 
I have forgotten, and what arms have lain 
Under my head till morning; but the rain 
Is full of ghosts tonight, that tap and sigh 
Upon the glass and listen for reply, 
And in my heart there stirs a quiet pain 
For unremembered lads that not again 
Will turn to me at midnight with a cry. 
Thus in winter stands the lonely tree, 
Nor knows what birds have vanished one by one, 
Yet knows its boughs more silent than before: 
I cannot say what loves have come and gone, 
I only know that summer sang in me 
A little while, that in me sings no more.

In "Because You're the First," Cameron gives Kassandra a book of sonnets writiten by William Shakespeare, probably the most famous  sonnet writer of all time.  There is very little known about the man known as "The Bard," who was mostly acclaimed during his lifetime for his plays.  His sonnets were more than likely written during the sonnet craze that swept England in the 1590s.  They were not published in their entirety as a collection until 1610.  Some scholars think there is a plot to them, others disagree.  What no one doubts is the verbal and emotional beauty of the sonnets, which have expressed lover's feelings for one another for 500 years.

In the book, Cameron marks for Kassandra Sonnet 116, which is probably one of his most popular.  It is one that is commonly read at weddings because it speaks of a love that is forever enduring and permanent.

Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove:
O no! it is an ever-fixed mark
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wandering bark,
Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.
Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle's compass come:
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
If this be error and upon me proved,
I never writ, nor no man ever loved.

William Shakespeare

A few months ago, I decided I wanted to try my hand at sonnet writing.  Here's my attempt:

Sonnet I
To those I've loved

To those I've loved in days gone by
That linger in sequestered places
In a restless heart, that wonders why
And thinks on smiles of fading faces.
Their laughter rings through bygone days
In moments when I remember
When love was young and passion blazed
Then burst to deadened embers.
When days are long, and I'm alone
and youth seems far away
I think of when those love lights shone
Full of sweet words to say.
I dwell on all those moments sweet,
And hope again with love I'll meet.

Okay, well, maybe Edna and William did a better job. But it was my first try!!!

Love and Happy Valentine's Day to all!!!