Spenserian Sonnet
by
Ferrick Gray
This sonnet is from Thĕ (Study of) Trees published on Google Play Books, Amazon and Draft2Digital, ISBN 9780648224648. It is included here with additions, corrections and improved scansion notation which will appear later in the second edition.
The Spenserian1 sonnet is unique in that the quatrains are interlocked by their rime. The rime scheme is given by abab bcbc cdcd ee with the volta always occurring at the final couplet. The sonnet is sometimes classified as Italian because it only has five rimes. However, the Italian sonnet does not has a rime-connection between the octave and sestet of which Spenser’s does with the c-rime. Spenser’s form was not very popular, but it is very beautiful.
Behold! The fields are flushed with color red!
Methinks not blood, but blood it may well be.
Behold the sight! Nay turn my head instead,
Avert mine eyes, this travesty I see.
Their sound! They sound as one and all agree
That greatness comes in numbers more than one.
Who strives to flee their common repartee
Of dry repeated-ness and stories spun?
But lo! Their faces greet the noonday sun;
All ‘tempt to dull her with their feign eclipse—
So many, what has Mother Nature done?
She stands aside, her hands upon her hips:
I wonder if the grass is truly green;
With poppies tall, the grass is rarely seen.What are we looking at? Something of beauty in nature or something horrific in the human-race? The point is both can occur simultaneously. It all depends how you look at it. Oh, those tall poppies!
Essentially, this sonnet is about groups of people who believe that the greater number in support the better, irrespective of the quality that has been presented. We find this to be quite common today in that some poetry (Is it truly poetry?) is preferred over others, and the non-preferred type is insignificant. A type of bullying in literary circles. The fact is that many of these people are worthless critics, if critics you dare call them.
Analysis
Whāt hăs (Mōthĕr) Nātŭre Dōne?
This sonnet can be read easily keeping with the strict iambic pentameter (albeit the title itself is clipped iambic tetrameter).
01 Bĕhōld | Thĕ fiēlds | ăre flūshed | wĭth cōl | ŏr rēd
Some may prefer reversal in the first foot, Bēhŏld, which could work—but there is still a tendency to make more of the second syllable.
02 Mĕthīnks | nŏt blōod | bŭt blōod | ĭt māy | wĕll bē
03 Bĕhōld | thĕ sīght | Năy tūrn | my̆ hēad | ĭnstēad
04 Ăvērt | mĭne e͞yes | thĭs trāv | ĕstȳ | Ĭ sēe
05 Thĕir sōund | Thĕy sōund | ăs ōne | ănd āll | ăgrēe
06 Thăt grēat | nĕss cōmes | ĭn nūm |bĕrs mōre | thăn ōne
07 Whŏ strīves | tŏ flēe | thĕir cōm | mŏn rēp |ărtēe
08 Ŏf drȳ | rĕpēat | ĕd-nēss | ănd stō | riĕs spūn
09 Bŭt lō | Thĕir fā | cĕs grēet | thĕ noōn | dăy sūn
10 Ăll ‘tēmpt | tŏ dūll | hĕr wīth | thĕir fēign | ĕclīpse
11 Sŏ mān | y̆ whāt | hăs Mōth | ĕr Nā | tŭre dōne
12 Shĕ stānds | ăsīde | hĕr hānds | ŭpōn | hĕr hīps
13 Ĭ wōn | dĕr īf | thĕ grāss | ĭs trū | lȳ grēen
14 Wĭth pōp | piĕs tāll | thĕ grāss| ĭs rāre |ly̆ sēen
This sonnet is correctly classified as iambic pentameter because there is no variation in the rhythm or of it containing metrical substitutions. Naturally, this is expected of the sonnet form. The sonnet form is one of the strictest forms in poesy, and it needs to be respected for being such.
As with most sonnets, the major variation will be starting with the trochee. In general, iambic substitution is uncommon as is demonstrated here. However, in the feminine verse we will find the amphibrach ending. On others occasions the anapest may finish the verse. So, not altogether impossible—but not too many please.
Ferrick Gray
October 2024
- Spenserian: Edmund Spenser (1552/1553—January 13, 1599) His exact date of birth is unknown because the parish records for the area of London he was born were destroyed in the Great Fire of 1666. ↩︎