Sonnets

I'm currently reading Sonnets From The Portuguese by Elizabeth Barrett Browning. I had read a couple of them before, including, obviously, her most famous one, "How do I love thee?" But I had not read all 44 of them. Being in a poetic mood, I decided to remedy that situation.

I wrote a few sonnets years ago.  I was in my 20s, and experimenting. The sonnet form is not a natural one for me, but writing them was like working on a puzzle.

I ultimately wrote 10 of them - with the last two (responses to Romeo and Juliet) written a few years after the first 8. I was by then an English teacher. As I look back, some of them have their moments, but they are not completely successful. I think the R & J ones hold up the best.

I'm more comfortable with short poems - haiku, clerihews, cinquains  - but with retirement looming I'll have more time to try my hand at sonnets again. I'll think about that.

For now, Browning.

Pax et bonum