ABPA - Australian Bush Poets Association

With this early spring day already approaching 30 degrees, I can't help but be reminded of the path ahead!

A Shakespearean sonnet on the trials of a Queensland summer especially in those vast tracts of land away from the coastal strip ...

SONNET TO A QUEENSLAND OUTBACK SUMMER
(c) Shelley Hansen

Dead calm across the plain as nothing stirs
beyond the haze that shimmers from the ground.
No grass is here - just dust and angry burrs
and buzz of flies the solitary sound.
I try to shade the empty skies from view
where even birds take shelter from the sun.
At dawn they come to search for drops of dew
and do not come again till day is done.
The tyrant Summer's grip remains supreme,
oppression of this land his legacy.
No mercy gained or given, it would seem,
as gentle rain dries up by his decree.

How long must we endure in bitter grief?
My parched soul longs for Autumn's sweet relief.

Another good one Shelley

It doesn't take long to realize that there's a lot more to writing these than you first think,
especially if you want to do them well.

They really lend themselves to the use of expressive language don't they,
and you need to put a lot of thought into them.

Terry

Thanks Terry. Yes you are absolutely right. This particular sonnet has been written and rewritten many times!

I find there is a temptation with Shakespearean sonnets in particular, to lapse into old fashioned habits like inverted phrases and archaic words. It can be a challenge for me to make them sound “modern”.

Cheers Shelley

Hi Shelley

Just curious - as you know I'm a complete novice with these things.

I notice that you use punctuation with your Sonnet,
and keep to couplets while just capitalizing the first word in each sentence?

Terry

Great write Shelley, You certainly set a high benchmark in the sonnet department! a pleasure to read.

Cheers
Ron

Thanks so much Ron.

In answer to your question, Terry - um? I'm just writing them in the same modern style that we now write both traditional rhyming and free verse. Have you read instructions that outline things differently?

Cheers
Shelley

Not really Shelley

I do remember reading once that the old Sonnets were written without Punctuation,
and all the lines were capitalized.

But when I think about it, I doubt that would apply today.

Anyway as I have said before I know nothing about Sonnets.

Cheers

Terry

That's interesting Terry. You've sent me scurrying back to my Shakespeare and then to a couple of online poetry references about capitalisation and punctuation.

Yes, the older sonnets definitely did have the capital letter to begin each line (as did most poetry forms). Punctuation seems to be variable across different writers of the older sonnets.

As for today - it seems it is an individual choice. Some references advise writing modern sonnets as we do modern poetry - that is with no capitalisation and with punctuation only where it naturally would fall in speech. Others vary in their recommendation - but it seems that there are no hard and fast rules for the modern sonnet writer.

Interesting - thanks for raising it as it had never occurred to me to check it out.

Cheers
Shelley

Nicely done Shelley - you are good at these

Any rules re punctuation, capitalization etc etc seem to have flown out the window these days which I often find makes so many writings extremely difficult to read and decipher ... I tend to work on the 'if it ain't broke leave it alone' rule myself.

Thanks Maureen - yes it is hard to keep up with the changing rules. Who changes them I wonder??