2. Sort-of Sonnets Defined

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Please pause the press before you write again

That poem was not "sonnet" in the least

Not iambic pentameter, the sin!

Nor fourteen lines, but twenty! What deceit!

If Will was here he'd pale and scoff or faint

If Petrarch's eyes did read your lines, oh my

"This scheming sod doth dare defy and taint

Our holy scheme of sonnets we defined!"

Now here's my question for the men of old:

Why must a format for a poem be

So strictly written to be labeled told

As "sonnet" when rules are imaginary

Please understand the rest of these are not

True sonnets but some sort-of sonnets sought

Sort-of Sonnets: A Poet in DebtWhere stories live. Discover now