Breaking the Sonnet

"Sonnet" by Todd Swift in the February 2011 issue of Poetry. You might be struck by how Swift reduces the form down into its lyrical base much like Ezra Pound discusses, how reflective the poem is about the form and what the poem is doing. It turns on itself, and on the form,

After reading a handful of traditional sonnets, we can now look at how those conventions can broken (and many times are) in contemporary verse.

For next Monday, you will write your own version of the sonnet--taking and cutting away what you need from the form. Playing with traditional forms is very, very important to a writer's growth. Use of the form what you need; diverge from its paths when impulse and intellect demand!