Wreathed and Unwreated Sonnets

Wreathed and Unwreathed Sonnets

Wreathed poetry is simply a natural blending of English poetry with the Celtic Welsh. Its creator George Herbert was born into a wealthy artistic family in Wales and later was educated in Trinity College, Cambridge and was unpublished until after his death. It is believed that his poem A Wreath was inspired by the Welsh form Englyn cryrch which uses an internal rhyme scheme with an external one. Remembering that Herbert was formerly an accademic and would have been aware of the sonnet, but it would not be formalised during Herberts lifetime and so in The Wreath he gives his own version of the sonnet:

A Wreath

A Wreathed garland of deserved praise,

Of praise deserved, unto thee I give,

I give to thee, who knowest all my wayes,

My crooked winding wayes, wherein I live,

Wherein I die, not live: for life is straight,

Straight as a line, and ever tends to thee,

To thee, who art more farre above deceit,

Then deceit seems above simplicitie.

Give me simplicitie, that I may live,

So live and like, that I may know, thy wayes,

Know them and practise them: then shall I give

For this poore wreath, give thee a crown of praise.

from The Temple (1633) by George Herbert

The sonnet sometimes considered to consist of an Octave, and a Sestet, both as well as having a standard rhyming form but also possesing internal rhymes.

The octave in reality is two Quatrains linked by the internal rhyme, and similarly the sestet

If the octave is linked to the sestet by an internal rhyme, then it should be presented as a fourteen (14) line poem, and if not then as an eight (8), six (6). Like the Petrarch sonnet, no meter would have been set, so that is left to the discretion of the poet. The basic form is thus:

x. x. x. x. x. x. x. a.

x. a. x. x. x. x. x. b.

x. b. x. x. x. x. x. a.

x. a. x. x. x. x. x. b.

x. b. x. x. x. x. x. c.

x. c. x. x. x. x. x. d.

x. d. x. x. x. x. x. c.

x. c. x. x. x. x. x. d.

x. x. x. x. x. x. x. e.

x. e. x. x. x. x. x. f.

x. b. x. x. x. x. x. e.

x. e. x. x. x. x. x. b.

x. b. x. x. x. x. x. e.

x. e. x. x. x. x. x. f.

Here is an example of that form

Moonlight’s Glow

The nights I touch the moon’s pure light

and bathe in starlight to wait your kiss.

Your lover’s kiss that starts my flight,

and fly the skies of passion’s bliss.

The blissful thoughts that fill my days,

the endless days we are apart,

The parting mists reveal the haze,

in hazy dreams, I give my heart.

A token heart, my lover’s oath,

my oath of honour made to you

to see your smile reflect the moon

In moonlight’s glow, there lies love’s growth

and grow as one in all that’s true,

The truth of love our sacred tune.

Sarah Rayburn

Another alternative is simply three Quatrains and a Couplet. with or without internal links Un-wreath Poetry

The same rules apply to the Un- wreath sonnet as the previous wreath forms, you will also notice in this one, the sestet has been linked to the octave. Here is the basic rhyme scheme:

x. b. x. x. x. x. x. a.

x. a. x. x. x. x. x. b.

x. b. x. x. x. x. x. a.

x. c. x. x. x. x. x. b.

x. d. x. x. x. x. x. c.

x. c. x. x. x. x. x. d.

x. d. x. x. x. x. x. c.

x. f. x. x. x. x. x. d.

x. e. x. x. x. x. x. f.

x. f. x. x. x. x. x. e.

x. e. x. x. x. x. x. f.

x. f. x. x. x. x. x. e.

x. e. x. x. x. x. x. f.

x. x. x. x. x. x. x. e.

A purist might insist that both forms should be 14ers and that the last line should link back to the first one.

Pasted from http://www.thepoetsgarret.com/sonnet/wreath.html

Many thanks to John Clitheroe for his work on the PoetsGarret site.

My example

Fantasy Augment
Fantasy Augment,
a Wreathed Sonnet inspired by Vladislav Yeliseyev

Intruding on day’s failing light
the bright reflections in the sky
defy all reason, but delight
in spite of that; look how they fly
so high beyond the birds. I know
their glow announces festive cheer
for here we meet both bride and beau
with bouquets thrown – such times held dear.
The mansion, of itself is fine,
and wine will flow, and folks will dance
supplying memories by design
refined by being here. Don’t try
denying illusions that shine
divinely, when they get the chance.

© Lawrence Eberhart, April 22, 2015

Picture credit: Photo of Phillipi Mansion
painted by Vladislav Yeliseyev

 

Visual Templates

Wreathed Sonnet1

Wreathed Sonnet2

 

Busta Sonnetto

All Thru The Night (Busta Sonnetto)

All thru the night she can hear beat of her heart

No one to share with what she can yet just feel

In the middle of the night you can hear her cry

His betrayal hurts her like daggers of steel

Probing her his love wasn’t true from the start.

In the silent of night she feels round the cold

Like mad driven horses her thoughts can’t seem stop

Some dreams reduced to ashes now dead on floor.

She’s now aware that his love was false a flop.

The coldness of his heart only makes hers scowl.

She covered in blood love at her feet lays dead

All thru the night she tastes love’s bitter sting

Her pain flows but her cry hides within her sigh.

Pushing her nightmare away she leaves her bed.

April,22,2014

Pasted from http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/all-thru-the-night-busta-sonnetto/

This form is based on the Envelope Quintet, and comprises of two quintets and one quatrain in any order. Three versions come to mind with perhaps the inclusion of a repeat line or lines, that I’m sure any innovative poet can have a lot of fun with. Shown below is the first idea the Teagan De Danaan played around with.

 

All Things Must End

 

How lonely is the night, without a companion 

She shares her life with the day, now asleep 

Yet whilst she sleeps, he opens half a world 

And during her vigil has been unable to peep, 

Covered with a blanket, and a different opinion. 

With the first sign of day you hear welcome calls 

And all forms of life burst forth with joyous sound 

That night has done her best to see unfurled. 

So some politics would claim the same around 

That only day should grace their hallowed walls. 

I wonder how long they would last without a night 

And the pleasure that a short hibernation creates; 

Lying in bed asleep sharing your time as mates 

A comfortable partner, sharing beliefs and rights?

Teagan De Danaan

 

Note: Although this example is shown as two quintets and a quatrain, because it is a SONNET it should be presented as a 14 line Stanza!

 

Pasted from http://thepoetsgarret.com/2013Challenge/form21.html

Unsated cravings trail over my skin

Demanding senses to embrace the fire

No words of love are left on my pillow

When no time is left to simply admire

The tendrils of wanting that tease within

Each eager touch a temptation of fate

As kisses melt like honey in the heat

In trashy cheap hotel rooms slicked in dust

Tasting musky sweat is nevermore sweet

When the heart is left out of a date

And as the sunlit drapes softly billow

The cash is given for cracks of willow

And welted skin a symbol of trust

As once again I give in to my lust

Pasted from http://tirnanogthelandoftheeverliving.yuku.com/topic/33978/Melting-Honey-Busta-Sonetto-and-Seven-Sins-Mildly-Erotic#.VLhUiEfF9qU

 

Cruel Mother.—-  Busta Sonetto.

A baby screams within a mothers gloom  

When all she asks was moments to cease   

Why oh why does this depression exist  

When a child torment shall only increase  

Screams shall echo within a silent room   

But manic depression shall often follow  

No matter who or what is likely to blame  

Cursed words that unwind within a twist  

Turns the hearts of innocence to shame 

A brutal remark is a hard act to swallow  

When a babies livelihood is soon at stake 

Shall an innocent bystander turn her eyes 

What may happen next I can only surmise 

The threats of a mother shall be of fake.

Pasted from http://tirnanogthelandoftheeverliving.yuku.com/topic/33795#.VLhU8EfF9qU

Terry Clitheroe

 

All Hallows….Busta Sonetto

In the still of the night as I wander dark halls 

I still sense a movement in time with mine. 

I stop and listen curious about what it could be 

But all seems still here everything feels fine 

As I pass darkness’ hidden pictures on the walls. 

But as much as I stop and listen it evades me 

No Earthly form could be here this special night 

No spirit either for they to have been distracted 

And all forms but me have taken a special flight 

Then I hear a noise, curious, what can it be 

Then I smell it near, to me it’s been attracted 

Now I see it moving, a shadow on the wall 

Moving closer, I see a sight that would appall 

My heart stops, from life I’ve been subtracted

Pasted from http://thepoetsgarret.com/2013Challenge/form21.html#me
My thanks to thepoetsgarret for their on-going work.

Busta Sonnetta specifications re-stated.
The defining feature of this sonnet is the fact that it consists of two quintets and one quatrain in any order.
It should be framed as a quatorzain.
It is generally written in iambic pentameter, but not mandated.
It is generally written with envelope rhyme within each stanza.
Refrain lines are permitted.

My example

Not seeing any poets take the option of putting the quatrain between the two quintains, I decided to do so. Conventionally the volta of a poem, occurs when the rhyme pattern changes. That gave me the option of making the “turn” occur at either L5 or L10.

My Special Dime (Busta Sonnetto)

I always had an extra dime with me,
It was a dime my mother called my spare.
Not ever did I spend that special dime.
Mom sewed it in my coat and showed me where.
Then big kids couldn’t take that coin you see.
I knew I could call home at anytime
if mis-adventure ever came my way.
That hidden coin made everything okay,
That’s comfort to a youth that’s quite sublime.
Today the cell-phone, acts as folk’s life-line,
and nowhere will a phone booth now be found
but there were plenty of them in my day
except where I went playing with my hound
and mother knew that he could watch me fine.

© Lawrencealot – March 7, 2015

Visual Template
(Showing just a few of the hundreds of possible rhyme patterns.)

Busta Sonnetto