The newspaper., 1906-12-21

leellnS ana clearneSS OF expression.
Some are of serious nature and
some sparkle with wit and humor.
Our author, (Saintsbury.) says OF
Shakespearians sonnets { p 164. From
Sappho and Solomon to Shelly and
Mr.. Swinburn, many bards have
spoken eXcellently of love, but what
they have said could he cut out of
Shakespeare's sonnets, better said
than they have said it. and yet
enough remain to furnish forth the
greatest of poets.
The modern sonnet is, as regards
form, that used by Milton Words
The rhyme scheme is as sfollows:-The
LIST, 4th, 5th and Sth lines are
rhymed on one sound; the 2nd, 3rd,
9th and 9TH, on another, while the
last 6 lines admit of~variation in
arrangement. The modern sonnet
does not stick so closely to form as
the EliZabethan. In the last six
lines the poet is free to use such
rhyme as he chooses. Some of the
modern sOnneteers depart entirely
from the generally accepted rhyme,
as for example Shelley's sonnet "Oz-
mandias." The rhymes in this SON.
net are not arranged on the plan of
either of the principal types of SON
nets.
As a good example of the modern
sonnet we might take the one by
Joseph Blanco White, entitled Might
and Death, c. l.. Il. 509.''
NIGHT AND DEATH.
Mysterious night! when our first parent knew
Thee from report divine. and heard thy name.
Did he not tremble for this lovely frame.
This glorious canopy of light blue?
Yet, meath curtain of transluceutdew,
| Bathed In the rays of the great setting flame.
He-perus, with the host of heaven. came.
And 10! creation widened In mans View
Who could have thought such darkness lay
concealed
Within thy beams. sun! or who could find.
Whilst fly and leaf and insect stood revealed,
That to such countless orbs thou mad'st us
blind?
Why do we. then. shun death with anxious
strife?
II Light can thus deceive. wherefore not Lille?
This sonnet pronounced by Cole
ridge, "the finest In our language, is
remarkable from the fact that to
White, who was born and educa ted in
Spain our language was acquired
rather than native. We have SOM
beautiful modern sonnets both Brit
ish and American. OF the English
Wordsworth, Keats, Byron, Eliza
beth Barret Browning. Rossetti and
Shelly are among the most prominent
writer's. OF the American we might
name Lowell, Longfellow, Margaret
/ Fuller, L. A. Poe and Richard Henry
Stoddard.
Comparing the Elizabethan or
Shakespearian sonnet with the mod
ern sonnet. aside from the difference in
rhyme scheme which has been noted,
there is of course the difference in
style and subject matter. The style
OF the Shakespearian sonnet differs
from that of the modern sonnet as
all ofShakespeare's work differs from
the work of modern writer's.
Taking the requisites of good
sonnet to be that,-the sonnet must
be complete in itself, must develop
one thought or emotion only, the
continuity of the thought must be
unbroken and the close of the sonnet
must he more impressive than the
opening. The Elizabethan or Shakes
pearian sonnet seems to meet these
requirements more fully than the
modern sonnet. Every one OF the
Shakespearian sonnets is complete In
Itself. 1t develops one thought or
emotion only. The continuity OF
thought IL unbroken and 1t ia
especially true that the close of the
sonnet is the climax. They all with
out exception seem to close with a
rhymed couplet which sums up the
thought of the whole.
The first requisite ofcompletness is
pretty well met in the modern SON.
net and they generally develop one
thought but in some the continuity
OF thought seems to be broken. The
greatest weakness OF the modern
sonnet probably lies in the lack