Tuesday, June 7, 2011

The Sonnets

palm copy[3]
As I stated to Ace in a comment about last week’s poem, sonnets are my favorite form of poetry.  The rhythm and cadence of a sonnet is pure beauty.  I wanted to share with you today my two favorite sonnets.

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? (Sonnet 18)
by William Shakespeare
2718_01[3]Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate.
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date.
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimmed;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance, or nature's changing course, untrimmed;
But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st,
Nor shall death brag thou wand'rest in his shade,
When in eternal lines to Time thou grow'st.
So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
 
How Do I Love Thee? (Sonnet 43)
by Elizabeth Barrett Browning
aint heavy[3]How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of being and ideal grace.
I love thee to the level of every day's
Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.
I love thee freely, as men strive for right.
I love thee purely, as they turn from praise.
I love thee with the passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints. I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life; and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.

What is your favorite form of poetry?
What is your favorite poem?  

Sonnets from the Portuguese
Shakespeare's Sonnets

2 comments:

Ace said...

I recently had the honor of meeting, then attending a reading by, and then inviting to read at my college, a up-coming poet named Timothy O'Keefe who has only recently released his first book, "The Goodbye Town." Part of this poetry project is a series of poems he calls Broken Sonnets. The broken sonnets are full sonnets, just with different lineation. The book also takes on the voice of many characters from Virgil and others that Tim made up himself.

Honestly, I love this book and Tim is a great guy and a great new friend. I would recommend you look him up and buy his book.

-Ace

Joe said...

Ace, I added it to my list of books that I want with Amazon.com. I look forward to getting it and reading it. Thanks for the suggestion. It sounds very interesting.