Sonnets

  • Good evening, all: Tonight’s sonnet is from John Donne, an English poet (1572-1631) who was dubbed a “metaphysical poet” for his use of conceit, a rather disjointed, but extended analogy used in his poetry. This is Sonnet IV of his collection of 19 sonnets titled the Divine Meditations or Holy Sonnets. These were published posthumously,…

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  • Happy Thursday, everyone. Today is April 9th of National Poetry Month, and I’ve decided to return to the sonnets of Elizabeth Barrett Browning; I’ve selected Sonnet XVIII for today’s reading. I like the parallels with Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights, as well as William Faulkner’s “A Rose For Emily.” Elizabeth’s sonnet, however, zooms in on the…

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  • Happy Wednesday, everyone! Today’s sonnet comes from Australian poet Christopher Brennan (1870-1932). It’s in English, or Shakespearean, form, and is filled with alliteration, assonance, and anaphora. 🙂 Enjoy! 🙂 I’m digging deep to offer a blend of the biggies with the lesser-known poets. 🙂 as always……………….rvw

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  • Happy Tuesday, everyone. It’s Day 7 of National Poetry Month. Today’s sonnet is from William Wordsworth (yay!). It was written in 1802, and as I explain before I read the sonnet, it celebrates, quietly, the ceaseless existence of beauty in nature, accessible to us even when we are not yet ready to receive it. Enjoy.…

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  • Greetings, everyone. This is one of my favorites (though I feel like I keep saying that about every sonnet that I read). Truth is, I’m a Shakespeare nut, so maybe all 154 are favorites… Anyway, today’s reading is Sonnet 98, another appropriate choice for our days of isolation as we stay close together…at a distance.…

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  • Today is day 5 of National Poetry Month, where I am sharing a reading of a sonnet each day with my students and my followers. Today’s sonnet comes from Sophie Jewett (aka Ellen Burroughs), and American poet who lived in New York. Jewett published “A Friendship” in a collection of poems in 1896 titled, The…

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  • Welcome to Day 4 of National Poetry Month. Today, I am reading a sonnet by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, an British poet who lived during the Romantic Era at the turn of the 19th century. This sonnet, titled, “On A Discovery Made Too Late,” is vintage Coleridge, burning hot with passion, deep emotion, and regret. Enjoy!…

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  • Welcome to day 3 of National Poetry Month. Today, I have chosen to read John Barlas’s Sonnet II, “Since I Have Known You I Have Little Heed,” written in the late 19th century. It is a Petrarchan Sonnet with a CDECDE sextet. I must give a shout out to my old friend Eric Blomquist who…

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  • 2 April 2020 Today’s sonnet is from Elizabeth Barrett Browning. It’s Sonnet VII from her collection Sonnets From The Portuguese, featuring 44 love poems written between 1845 and 1846. They were published in 1850. This is not one of the more popular sonnets from the collection; that acclaim goes to sonnet 43, which begins, famously,…

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  • In celebration of poetry month (April), I’ve decided to read a sonnet every day this month to my seniors, simply to share my love for words, especially in the sonnet form. I will be sharing them with you here as well, after I share with my students. Today’s sonnet is by the one and only,…

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