Not exactly Shakespeare
Not exactly Shakespeare
Day 27: “remix” a Shakespearean sonnet. You can pick a line you like and use it as the genesis for a new poem. Or make a “word bank” out of a sonnet, and try to build a new poem using the same words (or mostly the same words) as are in the poem. Or you could try to write a new poem that expresses the same idea as one of Shakespeare’s sonnets.
No pressure then! As it happens, my husband Phil has been away most of this week, and coincidentally the weather had turned from gorgeously sunny to cold, wet and windy. Sonnet 98 seemed perfect and I took the first line for my starting point.
From you I have been absent in the spring
And days feel empty, without their spark
When we should be enjoying every thing
The light has dulled, the days become dark.
Birds in the lilac tree still visit your seeds,
Flowers still tempt with their sweet smell and hue
But all I can see are encroaching weeds
There's no beauty in a garden not shared with you.
Even the weather seems to know you're away
Spring's almost ended before it's begun
It's ten degrees colder, decreasing each day,
Wild winds bring showers, a dim memory the sun.
While you're away my life seems on hold
While my body is warm, my heart feels the cold.
© Copyright 2019. Chris Auger. All Rights Reserved
And in case you were wondering, here's the real deal:
Day 27: “remix” a Shakespearean sonnet. You can pick a line you like and use it as the genesis for a new poem. Or make a “word bank” out of a sonnet, and try to build a new poem using the same words (or mostly the same words) as are in the poem. Or you could try to write a new poem that expresses the same idea as one of Shakespeare’s sonnets.
No pressure then! As it happens, my husband Phil has been away most of this week, and coincidentally the weather had turned from gorgeously sunny to cold, wet and windy. Sonnet 98 seemed perfect and I took the first line for my starting point.
From you I have been absent in the spring
And days feel empty, without their spark
When we should be enjoying every thing
The light has dulled, the days become dark.
Birds in the lilac tree still visit your seeds,
Flowers still tempt with their sweet smell and hue
But all I can see are encroaching weeds
There's no beauty in a garden not shared with you.
Even the weather seems to know you're away
Spring's almost ended before it's begun
It's ten degrees colder, decreasing each day,
Wild winds bring showers, a dim memory the sun.
While you're away my life seems on hold
While my body is warm, my heart feels the cold.
© Copyright 2019. Chris Auger. All Rights Reserved
And in case you were wondering, here's the real deal:
XCVIII (Sonnet 98)
From you have I been absent in the spring,
When proud-pied April, dress'd in all his trim,
Hath put a spirit of youth in every thing,
That heavy Saturn laugh'd and leap'd with him.
Yet nor the lays of birds, nor the sweet smell
Of different flowers in odour and in hue,
Could make me any summer's story tell,
Or from their proud lap pluck them where they grew:
Nor did I wonder at the lily's white,
Nor praise the deep vermilion in the rose;
They were but sweet, but figures of delight,
Drawn after you, you pattern of all those.
Yet seem'd it winter still, and you away,
As with your shadow I with these did play.
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