Join the Neopoet online poetry workshop and community to improve as a writer, meet fellow poets, and showcase your work. Sign up, submit your poetry, and get started.

A Rare Gem.

Loneliness dangled my heart back and forth,
through void spaces under the winter cold,
yearning for your lush cuddles and warmth,
treasured far above the priciest gold.

In fealty my heart rests in a chest,
safe and secured waiting for you my love.
Yes, the one I have chosen as the best,
a rare gem, no one else will my heart crave.

You alone make my ardor flow upstream;
endowed with eerie verve, a queer prowess,
that steers my yearnings with an ecstatic helm
to a fruition realm of breathlessness.

Your elegance , on me has cast a spell
no antidote is potent enough to quell.

Review Request (Direction): 
How was my language use?
What did you think of the rhythm or pattern or pacing?
How does this theme appeal to you?
How was the beginning/ending of the poem?
Is the internal logic consistent?
[This option has been removed]
Editing stage: 

Comments

I could critique but it would just be nit picking. I really like this sonnet, especially the closing couplet.

Keith Logan
the happy chappy
https://www.neopoet.com/community-guidelines

but strictly not
ababcdcdefef
gg (ok)

or near rhymes if you prefer. It is an accepted form.

Keith Logan
the happy chappy
https://www.neopoet.com/community-guidelines

Then he must post a note
that he knows

what you
and
I also now know

Thank you so much Keith Logan.Honestly your comment is so encouraging and it has boosted my morale.I really appreciate.I have not done a sonnet once before.Thanks once again.

author comment

Thank you so much Lovedly for your kind comment.

author comment

they were nice
but I was ticked off
as none conformed to any
sonnetry pattern..

I said u enjoyed it
sonnets are not for me
i hate counting syllables
am so otherwise busy
take this sonnet to be
a freestyle one from me

they swallowed it gladly

syllables but listen to the beat.

Keith Logan
the happy chappy
https://www.neopoet.com/community-guidelines

Developing an 'ear' for meter is more difficult for some than others, as some people are 'tone deaf' to music.
For those who have difficulties I recommend reading poets who use a strong meter. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow is a good example.

cheers,
Jess
A new workshop on the most important element of poetry-
'Rhythm and Meter in Poetry'
https://www.neopoet.com/workshop/rhythm-and-meter-poetry

oh, nicely crafted, Marvel.
top job.

g

Thank you so much Gunnar Hedlund, I appreciate your comment.

author comment

which English speaking group has the most trouble developing an ear for Western meter. Go on, have a guess.

cheers,
Jess
A new workshop on the most important element of poetry-
'Rhythm and Meter in Poetry'
https://www.neopoet.com/workshop/rhythm-and-meter-poetry

They will deny it strenuously but it is those goddam Rebels, Southern States Americans. It makes me nuts trying to teach Southern States Americans meter because although they speak English they use French long and short syllables instead of stress, hence the 'drawl'.

cheers,
Jess
A new workshop on the most important element of poetry-
'Rhythm and Meter in Poetry'
https://www.neopoet.com/workshop/rhythm-and-meter-poetry

...and somerset.
the southern lot drool a bit too,
and anywhere north of london
is an abundance of dialects
not the least of which
resemble a boomer
let alone its boom,
but they're
like nightingales
singing above a blind sea
of cicada
watching an airshow

beautiful
pains in the neck

g

I didn't know you had cicadas in England. Pesticides have taken a heavy toll but when I was 5 and 12 (they have a 7 year breeding cycle) they were so loud it literally hurt your ears.

cheers,
Jess
A new workshop on the most important element of poetry-
'Rhythm and Meter in Poetry'
https://www.neopoet.com/workshop/rhythm-and-meter-poetry

Normal
0

false
false
false

EN-US
X-NONE
X-NONE

MicrosoftInternetExplorer4

An excellent first attempt at a sonnet. As Keith acknowledged there is no problem with the rhyming scheme. One tiny typo-
yearning for your lush cuddles and wamth, [warmth]

Now have you heard of the 'volta'? It is not a prerequisite but a common device in sonnets. The first eight lines present a theme or argument, the final six deliver a twist or counterpoint. Something to consider with future efforts.

Now the really tricky part. Meter. How much do you know about poetic meter? It is the rhythm of poetry based on the natural stresses of spoken English. We have run several workshops on it and will run more because it is the most imortant poetic tool, far more important than rhyme. It is also very tricky because different languages use length of syllables instead of stress and different English accents use different stresses. It makes me nuts trying to teach Southern States Americans meter because although they speak English they use French long and short syllables instead of stress, hence the 'drawl'. Here is a brief summary. http://writing.upenn.edu/~afilreis/88/meter.html

The most common form of meter used in sonnets is Iambic Pentameter-
da DUM/ da DUM/ da DUM/ da DUM/ da DUM
which is said to resemble the human heartbeat.

Nobody, not even Shakespeare, adheres strictly to meter however a basic metric form enormously enhances the 'musicality' of the poetry. Now I'm going to do something I rarely do, because it is time consuming and boring, I'm going to 'parse' your sonnet to demonstrate its metric structure.

dangled my/ heart back/ and forth,
through void/ spaces un/der the wint/er cold,
yearning/ for your/ lush cudd/les and warmth,
treasured/ far a/bove the /priciest/ gold.

In fealt/y my heart rests/ in a chest,
safe and se/cured waiting/ for you/ my love.
Yes, the/ one I have/ chosen as/ the best,
a rare/ gem, no/ one else/ will my/ heart crave.

You a/lone make my/ ardor/ flow up/stream;
endowed/ with eer/ie verve,/ a queer /prowess,
that steers/ my yearn/ings with/ an ecstat/ic helm
to a fru/ition realm/ of breath/lessness.

Your el/egance , on me/ has cast/ a spell
no ant/idote is po/tent enough/ to quell.

 

As you can see it is mostly Iambic and Anapestic, which mix well and don't clash and it is mostly in Pentameter. So you did well. Here is a very strange reading, I have absurdly over-stressed the meter to make my point.
https://vocaroo.com/i/s0jfeNbxi9r3

 

What do you think?

 

/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-priority:99;
mso-style-qformat:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin-top:0cm;
mso-para-margin-right:0cm;
mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt;
mso-para-margin-left:0cm;
line-height:115%;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;
mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}

cheers,
Jess
A new workshop on the most important element of poetry-
'Rhythm and Meter in Poetry'
https://www.neopoet.com/workshop/rhythm-and-meter-poetry

a glitch.

cheers,
Jess
A new workshop on the most important element of poetry-
'Rhythm and Meter in Poetry'
https://www.neopoet.com/workshop/rhythm-and-meter-poetry

I will figure out a title ,thank you Jess for the critique and correction of the, typo.Yes I know about the iambic meter(The stressed and unstressed syllable) but there is more to it and I would really love to know more about it.The Volta is actually the dramatic change in thoughts or emotion. Yes, I guess the reading was rather absurd because of the over stressed syllables.Thank you so much Jess ,once again.

author comment

https://www.neopoet.com/workshop/find/archive

This is a useful summary of meter-
http://writing.upenn.edu/~afilreis/88/meter.html

Also ( I'm writing this not just for you, Marvel, but anyone interested in learning the techniques of prosody) I highly recommend "The Ode Less Travelled" by Stephen Fry.

cheers,
Jess
A new workshop on the most important element of poetry-
'Rhythm and Meter in Poetry'
https://www.neopoet.com/workshop/rhythm-and-meter-poetry

Thank you so much Jess.

author comment

I wish I had done a 'normal' reading before you made them, so you could hear the difference. They have improved the meter, call it 'flow' if you prefer. Such tiny changes can make a huge difference. Man, you have the 'ear'. It's a pleasure to work with you.

Like I said before not even Shakespeare strictly adhered to meter but if you have a meter in your mind's ear before you start writing it a piece comes out pretty close.

I haven't even read your second sonnet yet but I'm looking forward to it.

cheers,
Jess
A new workshop on the most important element of poetry-
'Rhythm and Meter in Poetry'
https://www.neopoet.com/workshop/rhythm-and-meter-poetry

I need some time as you know. The subject will be ether meter or critique. Possibly even other devices like consonance and assonance. Anything but rhyme. Too many poets destroy their work by striving for that most obvious and least valuable device.
Would you consider working on it with me?

cheers,
Jess
A new workshop on the most important element of poetry-
'Rhythm and Meter in Poetry'
https://www.neopoet.com/workshop/rhythm-and-meter-poetry

It will be a great pleasure Jess.And thank you so much for the uplifting comments ,I really appreciate.

author comment

It will be a great pleasure Jess.And thank you so much for the uplifting comments ,I really appreciate.

author comment
(c) Neopoet.com. No copyright is claimed by Neopoet to original member content.