A Love Sonnet to Music, by Yours Truly
A Love Sonnet to Music.
Backstory. Way back in the day in the 1990’s when I was teaching Humanities to middle schoolers, I wanted to stretch their sensibilities, and mine, by introducing all of us to Shakespearean sonnets. So I did a little lesson on the basics of writing a sonnet… Pick a theme you really care about, anything from your favorite rock band or musicians, to a special friend, to a sport or athlete, or a movie, a book, a parent or song or whatever the feel deeply about; then start experimenting by writing down some words that describe not only what their theme will be but also their feelings about it; now listen to their heartbeat, and think about how to write something that is close to the rhythm of da-DUM, da-DUM, da-DUM, da-DUM, and da-DUM (the fancy term for that is iambic pentameter, but I doubt if I mentioned that); now I asked them to study these other sonnets of Shakespeare that give us a good idea of what we are trying to do (after all, Willie Shakes was an expert after writing 154 sonnets in his lifetime). Then I laid out the basic structure that all sonnets had to follow: exactly 14 lines with each line having exactly 10 syllables; the 14 lines are divided into three groups of 4 lines and the ending of 2 lines. The first line of each stanza has to rhyme with the 3rd line of that stanza; the 2nd line of that stanza has to rhyme with the 4th line. And the final two lines (the couplet) rhyme with each other. So here’s the basic structure of the sonnets by stanza: ABAB, CDCD, EFEF, GG. It took me awhile to figure this structure out, since this was my first attempt at this sonnet business. Once I got the hang of it (more or less), it took me awhile to help my students understand it. But sooner later we got the basics just fine. So then, we went to work in class, and each student tried his/her best to put a sonnet together. While they were each sweating away on their sonnet, I was doing the same in class. I told them all that this sonnet business was just as new to me as it was to them, so I wanted to make sure they saw me working right alongside them. I was definitely stretching myself while they were being stretched. Some did pretty well, because they had a natural understanding of rhythm and beats and how to put the emphasis on one syllable over another, etc. It took a while, of course, but it was a good experience (I hope). This is what I came up with. It is my sonnet for music, with which I have had a life-long love affair:
To Musica – A Love Sonnet, by Steve Larson.
“Who designed your soundscape wheel? Earful bliss,
As color to sight, and smoothness to touch;
For in combinations fresh, angel-kiss
Of rhythm, pitch, scale, note… Simple as such.
Maestro eternal, bring echoes from Home,
Conduct the stars again, symphony King;
So ripple it out on joy’s slipstream… Come!
Lo! Mel’dy flows, harm’ny floats, soul takes wing.
Thus Hell’s darkest curse, in horr’fic fire-light:
Babel noise, clashing clamor, banging gong;
Infernal, tone deaf to love’s hot might.
Sad spirits there lost to Heaven’s sweet song.
Oh! Beauteous waves of passion unbound,
Composer’s promise, a rainbow of sound.”