Monday, December 9, 2013

On Being Nice - Terza Rima Sonnet

                                                                                       Attribution: Adriano
Image: Being Nice Together
Source: Wikimedia Commons (here)

a     Never in his wildest dreams had he known
b     Destined to be witness of vanity
a     Demonstrated by the sullen who frowned

b    Though devoid of acts of indignity
c    Startled and intensely incoherent
b    Blabbering to no end unashamedly

c   Why insist to willfully abandon
d   politeness and sense of good upbringing
c   and forgetting judicious indulgence

d   Shouts of 'simpleton' just kept on ringing
e   Much to embarrassment of those present
d   Ethics and etiquette thrown to the winds

e   Painful and sorely it was a lesson
e   To be enlightened  sane and elegant

A  Terza Rima sonnet is a rhyming poetry written in tercets – ie three-line stanzas
and ends with a couplet. It has a strict rhyming structure of   aba bcb cdc ded ee.
Here I’ve maintained the 10-syllable count in each of the 14 lines

Written for Marian's hosting at Open Link Monday at Real Toads

17 comments:

  1. Kitties look happy as can be, sometimes a lesson does need to come to some as they flap their trap

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  2. Great writing, in fact purr'fect, but oh gee are they ever the cutest little things ever!

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  3. nice attempt.for me, such strict forms are too restrictive and I appreciate the difficulty of following them closely.

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  4. there are some that will just act the way they do...with no concern for anyone else...perhaps it is all they ever knew....nice job on the form hank

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  5. wow, very, very nice! i love how subtle the form is here. impressive!

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  6. Hank, you did wonderfully with a form that looks very intricate. Yay!

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  7. Congratulations on using the form so well including the number of syllables per line> If not for free verse I could not write much poetry!!

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  8. Thanks for explaining the form, Hank, it does look intricate, but you have handled it very well. Good work!
    K

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  9. Goodness, to be able to even manage the form is fantastic, but to also write such a great piece I loudly applaud!!

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  10. well done..it is not easy to stay with in the guidelines...

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  11. Not an easy form! Well done.

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  12. Hank, not only did you write one hell of a poem, you also helped guide us through the form with the letters. I found it not at all distracting, and indeed quite informative.

    As for the poem, it sounds like a family gathered at the holidays! The lack of decorum, the me-me-me of it all... Brill thoughts, and not lost in the form. Congrats! Amelita

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  13. Shakespeare was said to have written "Macbeth" as a way of teaching goodness by rubbing our noses in awfulness. Sometimes our worst behavior is the best example. As you so well show us, the path to enlightenment is a dark one. Thanks - Brendan

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  14. By one's bad behavior we can all learn, I suppose. Let's hope we aren't always in that type of company, though!

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  15. I like it, Hank, you did good. My MIL used to teach the children, "be nice."

    I've played with sonnets too. If there is such a thing as a non rhyming sonnet I have one today, 4, 4, 4, 2, in syllabic form of tens.
    ..

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