Richard Vallance

Vallance Review 46. June 2005 Historical Evolution of the Sonnet: 4A. Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose. Tradition Persists [A] INTRODUCTION Some of you may be thinking, "This historical review is getting a little too serious for my taste." I am very much inclined to agree, so why don't we take a nice little break, sit back in our easy chairs, arm chairs, sofas, lawn chairs, patio chairs, pillows, bolsters, at the picnic table or on the beach, or what have you, and just, well, simply read a few of the world's finely crafted sonnets! That's not such a bad idea, I expect you'll agree. You may be wondering what criteria I have used in sifting through the thousands and thousands of consummate sonnets which have graced the pages of European literature since the Thirteenth Century, of North American literature since at least the Seventeenth Century, and of world literature for some time. It is an arduous task indeed to have to scrounge through such a massive body of poetry. However, rest assured; that is not what I have done. Instead, I have just gone ahead and chosen 51 sonnets by 50 sonneteers: 10 American, 6 Canadian, 2 Dutch, 20 English, 9 French, 1 German, 1 Irish, 1 Italian. In the last instance, I have selected two of the sonnets of Francesco Petrarch, since he is after all the grand dad of all sonneteers, and justly deserves an honourable mention. Other than that, the selection criteria I have used are entirely arbitrary -- hardly surprising, given the choices I was faced with. Mainly, I have chosen sonnets for their personal appeal. You guessed it; I've offered up a smorgasbord of some of my own favourite sonnets. Of course, my choices are also eclectic, as I wouldn't want to bore you with a whole lot of titles you are already all too familiar with. There are just so many times one can read William Shakespeare's Sonnet XXXIII, "Full many a glorious morning have I seen" [1] or Percy Bysshe Shelley's, "Ozymandias" [2] without becoming a little jaded, but you're welcome to read them too, if you like. There are links to them in the References and Notes at the end of this section. Of course, some of you may be relatively new to the sonnet as a a poetry genre; so if that is the case, I urge you to read any and all sonnets you may come across by the great sonneteers, such as Francesco Petrarch, Pierre de Ronsard, William Shakespeare, John Milton, John Keats, William Wordsworth, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Edna Saint Vincent Millay, and the like. I have also introduced plenty of variety in the thematic materials addressed by the sonnets I have chosen, so that we are hopefully not all bored to tears. On the other hand, certain subjects, such as (of all things!) sleep, fascinate me a great deal. I don't know, I suppose it's because I like to do it so often. And, of course, there are the perennial favourites, such as the ubiquitous and ever-popular, Love, and less savoury topics, like Death, which none-the-less merit our undivided fascination. In the next Section, 5. Thematics and Athematics, we shall explore in greater depth the amazing range of subject matters treated in the sonnet repertoire, but for the time being, let us be content just to sit back and relax, and read a sonnet here and there, as the spirit so moves us. Feel free to pick and choose whichever sonnet(s) you like in the list below, and leave the rest. If you are unilingual English, not to worry. The majority of the sonnets are English, or translated into English. The sonnets speak for themselves. In its own way, each is a little chef d'oeuvre of the poet's fancy or imagination. Some of the poets are great, some are renowned, others less well-known and some even what many folks would term as "minor poets", though that is a nomenclature I myself scrupulously avoid. So, without further ado, here are some brief quotations from each of our sonnets, to whet your appetites. Just click on the link of any sonnet that "speaks to" you, and enjoy! A Selection of 51 of the World's Sonnets by 50 Sonneteers KEYS: 1. In the list, after the sonneteer's name, his or her nationality is given in square brackets [], followed by the incremental for that nationality. Hence, [American] 5 = the 5th. American sonneteer & [English] 15 = the 15th. English sonneteer in the list. 2. xref = cross reference to another sonnet in the list in a similar vein. 3. Sonneteers are listed in strict alphabetical order by surname, regardless of the historical era in which they lived. This allows for sudden shifts in subject matter, mood, tone and style, and for a more eclectic menu like feel to this review. You simply pick and choose as the spirit moves you. After all, variety is the spice of life. The Sonneteers and Their Sonnets 1. Arnold, Matthew (1822-1888) [English] 1 xref 17 xref Spirituality 2,4-10,13,14,17-19,25,27-29,33,35-37,44,48 Matthew Arnold. Immortality And, Patience! in another life, we say, The world shall be thrust down, and we up-borne! 2. Bates, Katherine Lee (1859-1929) [American] 1 xref 5 xref Spirituality 1,4-10,13,14,17-19,25,27-29,33,35-37,44,48 Let me be blesséd for the peace I make. The eagle * that from ruined Rome we take Hath but a pagan heart ... * Katherine Bates is referring to the official insignia of the United States of America, the American Bald Eagle. 3. Baudelaire, Charles (1821-1867) [French = français] 1 xref 50 xref LOVE 5,7,8,27,28,30,31,34,35,38-40,43,44 Le Chat = The Cat This sonnet is embedded in Vallance Review 8, Poetry Life & Times, April, 2002, "The Cat's Meow". Le chat - Les Fleurs du mal (sonnet XXXIII) Viens, mon beau chat, sur mon coeur amoureux ; Retiens les griffes de ta patte, Et laisse-moi plonger dans tes beaux yeux, Mêlés de métal et d'agate... Charles Baudelaire (1821-1867) The Cat - The Flowers of Evil (Sonnet XXXIII) Come, my cat, love, onto my loving breast; Withdraw those claws on your calico paws, Or let my eyes plunge in the orange zest Of yours, whose squint, metallic, overawes... Translated from the French into an English sonnet by Richard Vallance, © 2002 4. Blind, Mathilde (1841-1896) [English] 2 xref 7,8,15,23,38 xref Spirituality 1,2,5-10,13,14,17-19,25,27-29,33,35-37,44,48 The Dead This sonnet is featured in the first Vallance Review, Poetry Life & Times, September, 2001. Scroll 1/3 of the way down the page to read the sonnet. You may also like to read the review. The dead abide with us! Though stark and cold Earth seems to grip them, they are with us still: They have forged our chains of being for good or ill; 5. Boulding, Kenneth R. (1910-1993) [American] 2 xref 2 xref LOVE 3,7,8,27,28,30,31,34,35,38-40,43,44 xref Spirituality 1,2,4,6-10,13,14,17-19,25,27-29,33,35-37,44,48 FROM: There is a Spirit: The Nayler Sonnets. London: Quaker Home Service, Friends House, © 1945, 1959, 1992. 36 pp. ISBN 0-85245-246-2 (UK) ISBN 0-87574-917-8 (USA). As this book is still under copyright ©, it is not available on the Internet. I suppose you'll just have to go to library and borrow it, or better still buy it. Sonnet XIX "Though None Else Regard it, or Can Own its Life" Are not my friends built round me like a wall? 6. Branch, Anna Hampstead (1875-1937) [American] 3 xref Spirituality 1,2,4,5,7-10,13,14,17-19,25,27-29,33,35-37,44,48 While Loveliness Goes By "Look out, look out! Angels are drawing nigh!" Rupert Brooke (1887-1915) "A young Apollo, golden-haired" 7. Brooke, Rupert Chawner (1887-1915) [English] 3 xref 4,8,15,23,38 xref LOVE 3,5,8,27,28,30,31,34,35,38-40,43,44 xref Spirituality 1,2,4-6,8-10,13,14,17-19,25,27-29,33,35-37,44,48 1914. IV "The Dead" This sonnet is featured in Vallance Review 15, Poetry Life & Times, November, 2002. These hearts were woven of human joys and cares, Washed marvellously with sorrow, swift to mirth. The years had given them kindness. Dawn was theirs, And sunset, and the colours of the earth. 8. Campbell, William Wilfred (1858?-1918) [Canadian] 1 xref 1,7,15,23,38 xref LOVE 3,5,7,27,28,30,31,34,35,38-40,43,44 xref Spirituality 1,2,4-7,9,10,13,14,17-19,25,27-29,33,35-37,44,48 Not Unto Endless Dark Do We Go Down Death's doubt is kernelled in each prayer we pray... 9. Casebeer, Florence Churchill (1934?) [American] 4 xref Spirituality 1,2,4-8,10,13,14,17-19,25,27-29,33,35-37,44,48 Biographical Sonnets XXIV. To my Challenged Self Suggested by a line of Fanny Hodges Newman "My heart was singing in another place." And where aerial wires appear as new The shore of cloud land I can clearly trace. 10. Coleridge, Hartley (1796-1849) [English] 4 xref Spirituality 1,2,4-9,13,14,17-19,25,27-29,33,35-37,44,48 Prayer ...Unfolds its tardy wreaths, and multiplies Its soft chameleon breathings in the rare Capacious ether,-- 11. Daniel, Samuel (1562?-1619) [English] 5 xref 20,26,46,49 Care, Charmer Sleep [Delia: Sonnet LIV] Care-charmer Sleep, son of the sable Night, Brother to death, in silent darkness born:... This sonnet was co-reviewed with Pontus de Tyard's, "Père du doux repos, Sommeil, père du Songe" in Vallance Review 41, January 2005, "Sonnets to help you fall asleep on a cold winter's night!". 12. De la Mare, Walter (1873-1956) [English] 6 xref 16,21,45 Silver Slowly, silently, now the moon Walks the night in her silver shoon *; This way, and that, she peers, and sees Silver fruit upon silver trees; * "shoon": according to Dictionary.com's definition, "shoon" is an archaic English plural (akin to the German) of "shoe". The meaning suits the context beautifully. This sonnet is in iambic tetrameter, not pentameter. It was reviewed in Vallance Review 12, Poetry Life & Times, August, 2002. 13. De Vere, Aubrey (1814-1902) [Irish] 1 xref Spirituality 1,2,4-10,14,17-19,25,27-29,33,35-37,44,48 Troilus and Cressida Some sapping poison through my substance worked, Some sin not trivial, though it lacked a name,... 14. Du Bellay, Joachim. (1525-1560) [French = français] 2 xref Spirituality 1,2,4-10,13,17-19,25,27-29,33,35-37,44,48 Maintenant je pardonne à la doulce fureur S'ils furent ma blesseure, ils seront mon Achille, S'ils furent mon venim, le scorpion utile, Qui sera de mon mal la seule guerison. English linear prose translation of the preceding stanza by Richard Vallance: Now I absolve my sweet fury,/ If they were my wound, they will be my Achilles (heel),/ If they were my venim, the useful scorpion,/ Who will be the only cure for my illness. Poetical Works of Thomas Gray. William Pickering, Ed. (18th. century) 15. Gray, Thomas (1716-1771) [English] 7 xef 4,7,8,25,38 On the Death of Mr. Richard West I fruitless mourn to him that cannot hear, And weep the more because I weep in vain. 16. Hardy, Thomas (1840-1928) [English] 8 xref 12,21,45 At a Lunar Eclipse Thy shadow, Earth, from Pole to Central Sea, Now steals along upon the Moon's meek shine In even monochrome and curving line Of imperturbable serenity. 17. Hillyer, Robert Silliman [American] 5 xref 1 xref Spirituality 1,2,4-10,13,14,18,19,25,27-29,33,35-37,44,48 Sonnet 1 Quickly and pleasantly the seasons blow Over the meadows of eternity, As wave on wave the pulsings of the sea Merge and are lost,... This sonnet was reviewed in Vallance Review 36, Poetry Life & Times, August, 2004, "There is a season, Turn, turn, turn. 18. Hopkins, Gerard Manley (184489). [English] 9 Poems. 1918 xref Spirituality 1,2,4-10,13,14,17,19,25,27-29,33,35-37,44,48 The Windhover To Christ our Lord I CAUGHT this morning morning's minion, king- dom of daylight's dauphin, dapple-dawn-drawn Falcon, in his riding Of the rolling level underneath him steady air, and striding... John Keats (1795-1821) 19. Keats, John (1795-1821) [English] 10 xref Spirituality 1,2,4-10,13,14-18,25,27-29,33,35-37,44,48 Classical Poet: Answer to a Sonnet by J.H.Reynolds Blue! 'Tis the life of heaven, -the domain Of Cynthia, -the wide palace of the sun, - ...passim... ... what strange powers Hast thou, as a mere shadow! But how great, When in an Eye thou art alive with fate! This sonnet was reviewed in Vallance Review 23, Poetry Life & Times. July 2003 20. Labé, Louise (ca. 1524-1566) [French = français] 3 xref 11,26,46,49 Sonnet IX O dous sommeil, o nuit à moy heureuse! Plaisant repos, plein de tranquilité, Continuez toutes les nuiz mon songe: & in English Sonnet IX - However Soon Come, gentle sleep. Offer kind night to me. Deliver to me peace, tranquillity, And bring me dreams. Then when I close my eyes, Indulge my battered soul throughout the night. Translated by Richard Vallance 2002 21. Lampman, Archibald (1861-1899) [Canadian] 2 xref 12,16,45 Winter Uplands And then the golden moon to light me home-- The crunching snowshoes and the stinging air, And silence, frost and beauty everywhere. This sonnet was reviewed in Vallance Review 6, Poetry Life & Times. February 2002 22. Lazarus, Emma (1849-1887) [American] 6 xref 37,47 Chopin II Who shall proclaim the golden fable false Of Orpheus' miracles? This subtle strain Above our prose-world's sordid loss and gain Lightly uplifts us. With the rhythmic waltz,... 23. Lofft, Capel (1753-1824) [English] 11 xref 4,7,8,15,38 The Sports of the Field From yells of hounds and horn--or the stag dies With silent tear!--Thus man enjoys earth, water, skies! This sonnet was reviewed in Vallance Review 7, Poetry Life & Times. March 2002 24. Mallarmé, Stéphane (1842-1898) [French = français] 4 Poésies de Stéphane Mallarmé Ses purs ongles très haut dédiant leur onyx Ses purs ongles très haut dédiant leur onyx, L'Angoisse, ce minuit, soutient, lampadophore, Maint rêve vespéral brûlé par le Phénix Que ne recueille pas de cinéraire amphore? Her Pure Long Fingernails Dedicating Their Onyx English linear prose translation of the preceding stanza by Richard Vallance: With her pure long fingernails dedicating their onyx,/Her anxiety in the dim light of the lamp, this very midnight, keeps alive,/Many a vesperal dream the (flame) the Phoenix burns, though is it gleaned from the amphora of her ashes?" NOTE: Stéphane Mallarmé's poems are almost all extremely cryptic and "précieux", i.e. affected. They are exceedingly difficult to translate into anything remotely like the original French. I have done my level best. 25. McGee, Thomas D'Arcy (1825-1868) [Canadian] 3 xref Spirituality 1,2,4-10,13,17-19,27-29,33,35-37,44,48 Return "Spirit!" I ask, "say, whither bound away?" "Unto the old Hesperides!" he cries. "Oh, Spirit, take me in thy bark, I pray." 26. McKay, Claude (1890-1948) [American] 7 xref 11,20,46,49 From Harlem Shadows (1922). Dawn in New York The Dawn! My spirit to its spirit thrills. Almost the mighty city is asleep, No pushing crowd, no tramping, tramping feet. That's all, folks, for this month! Keep posted for the last 25 sonnets in next month's Vallance Review. Coming next month, July, 2005, Vallance Review 47 Historical Evolution of the Sonnet: 4B Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose. Tradition Persists (Part 2) Vallance Review 47 (July 2005) is a continuation of Vallance Review 46. In next month's review, we will give our readers a taste of sonnets by the likes of: Edna Saint Vincent Millay, John Milton, Johannes Andreas der Mouw (Dutch: 1863-1919), Émile Nelligan (canadien: (1879-1941)), Gérard de Nerval (1808-1855), Francesco Petrarch, Rainer Maria Rilke (1875-1926), Pierre de Ronsard (1525-1585) and. of course, the grand master,William Shakespeare himself. © by Richard Vallance 200338; May 25 2005 REFERENCES & NOTES: [A] Vallance Review 46, June 2005, is a reprint with minor revisions and updating of Chapter 12, "The Historical Evolution of the Sonnet": Section 4A: "Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose. Tradition Persists", of Richard Vallance's book, Canadian Spirit Voices Las Vegas, NV.: Kedco Studios, © 2003. ISBN 1-878431-44-7. [1]  Minstrels [219]. Full Many a Glorious Morning Have I Seen (Sonnets XXXIII) [2] Sonnet Central. Percy Bysshe Shelley. Ozymandias. Although I scarcely mean to belittle these masterpieces of sonnetry in any way, there are just so many times one can, for instance, listen to Beethoven’s Symphony no. 5 without going batty. After all, a good wine is best quaffed on special occasions, or “familiarity breeds contempt”, as those of us in love may well attest on occasion. Richard Vallance is the author of: Canadian Federation of Poets: Poetry Lessons: Lesson & Exercise - Week 18 SONNETS in The Canadian Federation of Poets weekly Poetry Progress Lessons & Exercises series The Vallance Review is frequently cited in our Canadian sonnet journal, SONNETTO POESIA ISSN 1706-4524. SONNETTO POESIA is published quarterly in print & is advertised on the front page of the current issue of Poetry Life and Times. If you wish to subscribe to SONNETTO POESIA, you may contact the editor, Richard Vallance. To read the earlier e-zine back issues, you may visit the sonnet journal's Home Page here: SONNETTO POESIA ISSN 1705-4524 Beginning with the summer 2005 issue (Vol. 4 no 3), SONNETTO POESIA ISSN 1705 4524 will be a poetry quarterly in print with a difference. In every issue of SONNETTO POESIA, the first page is to be dedicated to an historical sonnet, which has been previously been reviewed in The Vallance Review, Poetry Life & Times. The first sonnet to appear in SONNETTO POESIA is Alan Seeger's Sonnet XVI, "Who Shall Invoke Her?", which was reviewed in Vallance Review 32, April 2004, Part 1: Alan Seeger, a Modern "Renaissance" Poet?. Thus, SONNETTO POESIA becomes an amalgam of a poetry journal of sonnets in print and an editorial online in Poetry Life & Times. Full credits and acknowledgments will be given Poetry Life & Times and The Vallance Review cited in every issue of SONNETTO POESIA. This notice will appear in résumé form in future Vallance Reviews.

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