vanwestervelt
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Good afternoon, all. Today is April 27, and we are now in our final four of sonnets for National Poetry Month. Today’s selection is a return to Keats, one of my favorite romantic poets. Like all the good romantics, it finds the beauty in nature and, in this poem, solitude. “O Solitude! If I Must…
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Welcome to day 25 of National Poetry Month. Tonight I am featuring a British poet of the Victorian era, William Cosmo Monkhouse, who was also an art critic in his prime. This sonnet, in the Petrarchan form, personifies Life and Death. Enjoy! 🙂 Life and Death, by William Cosmo Monkhouse From morn to eve they…
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Good evening, all 🙂 Today’s sonnet is by Charles Lamb, another romantic British poet who traveled in the same circle with Wordsworth, Coleridge, and others. His biographer, E.V. Lucas, even dubbed him the “most lovable figure in English literature.” Today I share with you Lamb’s sonnet, “A Timid Grace Sits Trembling In Her Eye.” A…
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Today we celebrate the life of William Shakespeare, who was rumored to be born on this day in 1564; it is also the date in which he died in 1616. This is sonnet 145, and as you can tell, we won’t be able to get to all of them in this short month of a…
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Happy Earth Day, to all. I remember turning the earth 50 years ago with my 5-year-old classmates as we planted little saplings at our elementary school. Now, 50 years later, I look back and savor the many hours I have spent on trails and shores, appreciating the earth. So much of my writing is inspired…
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Welcome back. For today’s poem, I decided to dip into the 20th century with a sonnet by Wilfred Owen, a British poet and soldier who died in battle in World War I. Wilfred wrote poetry for just about a year and died a few months after penning this poem, ironically, and sadly, called, “Anthem for…
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Welcome to Day 20 of our daily sonnets celebrating National Poetry Month. Tonight, I am reading Robert Burns’ “A Sonnet Upon Sonnets,” which he wrote in the Shakespearean sonnet form. Enjoy! A Sonnet Upon Sonnets, by Robert Burns Fourteen, a sonneteer thy praises sings; What magic myst’ries in that number lie! Your hen hath fourteen…
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Good evening, and welcome to day 19 of celebrating National Poetry Month. Today is April 19, and in celebration of beginning Hamlet tomorrow with my seniors, I thought we’d read another Shakespeare sonnet. Sonnet 30, “When to the Sessions of Sweet Silent Thought,” by William Shakespeare. When to the sessions of sweet silent thought I…
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Good afternoon! For today’s sonnet, I’ve selected American poet Maggie Bruner, who was born in 1886 and died in 1971. This is, I believe, the only sonnet she published. It is a simple statement of love for cats and how that love transcends life on this earth. Without further ado, “Sonnet,” by Maggie Bruner. The…
