In writing these posts I have been developing a format for how I present information about each poem. In this installment I will add a new section called “Terms” where some of the terms used in the description of the poem will be explained (I may go back through all of the entries and edit them to add this section as well) Input from all of you about editing this section into past posts will help in determining if I do that or not. I can see how it would be helpful if each poem had a section for that. Or if you think it would be better I could creat a post called “Poetic terms used thus far” or something like that and add new terms to that post as they are used. I will let you the reader determine which route is taken. Or perhaps both would be best
Early on we talked about the Sonnet and how there are two types, the English Sonnet (AKA Shakespearian Sonnet) and the Italian Sonnet (AKA Petrarchan Sonnet) and I gave an example of an English Sonnet. There are also other variations of these types of sonnets though many critics do not consider them “new” forms. For the most part they consider them to be variations of or interpretations of the original form.
Here in this installment we will talk about one of those variations…the Curtal Sonnet.
What is a Curtal Sonnet…
The Curtal Sonnet is a variation of an Italian Sonnet created by Gerard Hopkins. Where the Italian Sonnet has fourteen lines broken down into an octave and a sestet (an eight line stanza followed by a six line stanza) the Curtal Sonnet has ten and a half lines broken down into a sestet and a quatrain plus a half line (you could call it a quintet). If you do the math you will find that the Curtal Sonnet is exactly a 3/4 Italian Sonnet.
Structure…
The Curtal Sonnet follows one of three rhyme schemes (as far as I know there are only three schemes used by Hopkins for this variation). Those schemes are abcabc dbcdc or abcabc dcbdc or abcabc bddbc. In one instance the last line is a spondee in two instances it is a real “half line” or close to it. Except for the last line which is a spondee or a half line all the lines of this sonnet variation is written using “sprung rhythm” however most people who use this form substitute sprung rhythm with iambic pentameter which is used in both the English and Italian sonnets which I guess you could call a variation of the variation.
In my opinion…use one of the rhyme schemes stated above and use Iambic Pentameter lines with the very last line being either a spondee or a half line or just make sure you have five stressed syllables per line with the last line being a spondee or a half line because Hopkins did not to my knowledge explain the structure of this poem well enough for anyone to truly follow it.
Terms
…
Spondee
– A foot consisting of two long or stressed syllables. For example the word “cupcake” and the words “head band” are both spondee. (This information should tell you that the last line of a Curtal Sonnet should have only two syllables).
Sprung Rhythm
– A poetic rhythm which is characterized by feet varying from one to four syllables which are equal in time length but different in the number of syllables. It has only one stress per foot, falling on the first syllable, or on the only syllable if there is but one syllable, which produces the frequent juxtaposition of single accented syllables. (Or so my poetic dictionary says). The difficulty of grasping and understanding sprung rhythm is most likely the reason those who write Curtal Sonnets revert back to iambic pentameter. To my knowledge Hopkins did not explain it well enough for anyone to truly understand it and in reading some of his poems where he “employed” sprung rhythm I have a hard time understanding it because it seems to have a random structure that makes no sense to me. It is no wonder that anyone who writes a Curtal Sonnet reverts back to iambic pentameter. The best I can determine is he may be counting stressed syllables and if that is the case you have 5 stressed syllables per line with 0 to 3 unstressed syllables per stressed syllable. Iambic Pentameter is much easier to use and what is normally used in sonnets.
Iambic Pentameter
– Is actually two terms combined into one…
Iambic
– Which is one of the most common metrical units you will find in poetry. It is a short “unaccented” syllable followed by a long “accented” syllable such as with the words “deter” de-ter and “along” a-long. Another example I used before would be the words “the swell”.
Pentameter
– Is just that…Penta (five) and meter (a unit of measure) and in this case we are talking about a poetic unit of measure. Now lets combine the terms together and we have…
Iambic Pentameter
– Five feet of Iambic syllables (in other words a ten syllable line of alternating short and long syllables). This is much easier to understand and use than “sprung rhythm” don’t you think?
Stress
– From a linguistics point of view it is the intensity of muscular effort required for the articulation of a syllable. This is somewhat hard to explain because it can be different even with the same word. For example lets take the word “above” depending on the placement of the word and the context in which it is used “a” may hold the stress in the word or “bove” may hold the stress. Another example is “content”. As an adjective “tent” holds the stress but if it is used as a noun then “con” holds the stress. So stress is subjective and dependent on how the word(s) is used, where the word(s) is used and in what context.
If we use iambic where is the stress in this line “above the land she soared so high”
aBOVE the LAND she SOARED so HIGH
If we used a different metrical unit could the stress be different? Yes it could because of context and presentation. We could reverse the stresses and use a trochaic measure
Above THE land SHE soared SO high
Often knowing what form is being used can help in knowing how to read the poem and especially how to read the stresses.
History…
The Curtal Sonnet Was created by Gerard Manley Hopkins an English poet and Jesuit priest. His work was not published in a collected form until 1918. His work in writing is said to have influenced many 20th-century poets but few would tackle the Curtal Sonnet. Hopkins himself only used the form in three poems, Pied Beauty, Peace and Ash Boughs. In explaining the relationship between the Italian Sonnet and the Curtal Sonnet Hopkins used mathematics and explained that his sonnet is a curtailed Italian Sonnet which is also how he came upon the name Curtal. Hopkins also developed the Sprung Rhythm of which he used in the Curtal Sonnet.
For my poem I will use iambic pentameter because I do not like sprung rhythm that may be because I have not used it and find it hard to follow and understand. That may change after I play with it but…I doubt it. I will place in this post (at the end of it) the only three examples of sprung rhythm written by Hopkins for your reading pleasure (or displeasure depending on you point of confusion).
Now my poem…
Walk on the shore
Do you hear it call, as we walk along,
Along the sandy coast in the dark night
We walk upon the shore, waves at our feet
The silvery moon shown, bright like a song
The shimmering waves reflect the soft light
Cool wet sand crushing beneath our bare feet
Hear the call of the silence in the night
Like a bow being pulled along the strings
The sound reverberates, on sea and land
Calling for the day to come, bring the light
So grand
The following three poems were written by Gerard Hopkins
Pied Beauty
by Gerard Hopkins
Glory be to God for dappled things—
For skies of couple-colour as a brinded cow;
For rose-moles all in stipple upon trout that swim;
Fresh-firecoal chestnut-falls; finches' wings;
Landscape plotted and pieced—fold, fallow, and plough;
And áll trades, their gear and tackle and trim.
All things counter, original, spáre, strange;
Whatever is fickle, frecklèd (who knows how?)
With swíft, slów; sweet, sóur; adázzle, dím;
He fathers-forth whose beauty is pást change:
Práise hím.
Peace
by Gerard Hopkins
WHEN will you ever, Peace, wild wooddove, shy wings shut,
Your round me roaming end, and under be my boughs?
When, when, Peace, will you, Peace? I'll not play hypocrite
To own my heart: I yield you do come sometimes; but
That piecemeal peace is poor peace. What pure peace allows
Alarms of wars, the daunting wars, the death of it?
O surely, reaving Peace, my Lord should leave in lieu
Some good! And so he does leave Patience exquisite,
That plumes to Peace thereafter. And when Peace here does house
He comes with work to do, he does not come to coo,
He comes to brood and sit.
Ash Boughs
by Gerard Hopkins
Not of all my eyes see, wandering on the world,
Is anything a milk to the mind so, so sighs deep
Poetry to it, as a tree whose boughs break in the sky.
Say it is ashboughs: whether on a December day and furled
Fast ór they in clammyish lashtender combs creep
Apart wide and new-nestle at heaven most high.
They touch heaven, tabour on it; how their talons sweep
The smouldering enormous winter welkin! May
Mells blue and snowwhite through them, a fringe and fray
Of greenery: it is old earth’s groping towards the steep
Heaven whom she childs us by.
Edit #1 (changed reflected to reflect)
Last edited by Eiregirl on Wed Jul 19, 2006 4:37 pm; edited 1 time in total
Wed Jul 19, 2006 7:49 am
Sunny
Joined: 18 Jun 2006
Posts: 1571
Location: Massachusetts
Eire,
I love the "Terms" addition to your post I've been bouncing between this forum and an online poetry dictionary rather frequently. Putting terms in the post makes it easier to follow without jockeying between pages, though I suspect that would be even more work for you than creating a post dedicated to terms.
As for "sprung rhythm" - I just don't feel it or see it for that matter .... I'll stick with imabic pentameter if I give a curtal sonnet a whirl. Could you elaborate on the term "half line" though?
And your poem... another imagery delight "Hear the call of the silence in the night" really speaks to me today, especially after a blissful pre-dawn walk along the shoreline this morning.
You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot vote in polls in this forum
Gallery
FAQ
Profile PM's 
I've been bouncing between this forum and an online poetry dictionary rather frequently. Putting terms in the post makes it easier to follow without jockeying between pages, though I suspect that would be even more work for you than creating a post dedicated to terms.
.... I'll stick with imabic pentameter if I give a curtal sonnet a whirl. Could you elaborate on the term "half line" though?
"Hear the call of the silence in the night" really speaks to me today, especially after a blissful pre-dawn walk along the shoreline this morning.
Sunny 
