 Thursday, June 19, 2008
The following blog entry was written by Sarah Solomon, an intern here at READ.
When most people hear the word sonnet, they automatically think of William Shakespeare, and for good reason. However, the sonnet was around way before Shakespeare was born, and continued to be modernized after his death.
What makes sonnets different from other types of poetry is their distinct structure. Sonnets have a set number of lines and an organized rhyme scheme. However, there are different types of sonnets, such as the English sonnet, the Italian sonnet, and other variations.
 Shakespeare usually wrote English sonnets, which have 14 lines and a rhyme scheme of:
[ABAB CDCD EFEF GG]
Each letter corresponds to the last word of each line. So the first and third lines will rhyme, the second and fourth lines will rhyme, etc.
But you have probably already seen many Shakespeare sonnets. Here are some other ones you might not have seen. Sir Thomas Wyatt was born in 1503, and wrote sonnets way before Shakespeare. Here is one, entitled "Farewell love and all thy laws forever"
Farewell, love, and all thy laws forever,
Thy baited hooks shall tangle me no more.
Senec and Plato call me from thy lore
To perfect wealth, my wit for to endeavor.
In blind error when I did persever,
Thy sharp repulse that pricketh aye so sore
Taught me in trifles that I set no store,
But scape forth, since liberty is lever.
Therefore, farewell, go trouble younger hearts,
And in me claim no more authority;
With idle youth go use thy property,
And thereon spend thy many brittle darts.
For hitherto though I have lost my time,
Me list no longer rotten boughs to climb.
— Sir Thomas Wyatt (1503-1542)
 This is an Italian sonnet. Though the rhyme scheme of an Italian sonnet is somewhat flexible, the first eight lines are
[ABBA ABBA]
More modern sonnets are a lot freer with their rhyme schemes, and the poems are not as structured overall as the more classical ones. Edna St. Vincent Millay lived from 1892 to 1950--not so long ago. Here is a sonnet she wrote, entitled "Only until this cigarette is ended"
Only until this cigarette is ended,
A little moment at the end of all,
While on the floor the quiet ashes fall,
And in the firelight to a lance extended,
Bizarrely with the jazzing music blended,
The broken shadow dances on the wall,
I will permit my memory to recall
The vision of you, by all my dreams attended.
And then adieu, -- farewell! -- the dream is done.
Yours is a face of which I can forget
The colour and the features, every one,
The words not ever, and the smiles not yet;
But in your day this moment is the sun
Upon a hill, after the sun has set.
—Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892-1950)
There are other structural elements to sonnets, such as the literal structure of ideas (like an essay) and the rhythm of the words (enunciation). But that would be a whole other story.
Try writing your own sonnet!
It's harder than it looks!
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Saturday, June 14, 2008
The following blog entry was written by Sarah Solomon, an intern here at READ.
Cast a cold eye
On life, on death.
Horseman, pass by!
This is the famous epitaph of William Butler Yeats, whose birthday would have been yesterday, June 13.
Poet and dramatist William Butler Yeats was an Anglo-Irishman born in Ireland in 1865. This means that he was in the Protestant ruling class in Ireland, as opposed to the Catholic lower class. In his early years he was very interested in mysticism and occultism, but later on his poetry became more realistic.
 Most of his life, Yeats was in love with Maud Gonne, an Irish nationalist who did not return Yeats' feelings. Yeats was so desperate to be with her, he ended up proposing to her five times!
Yeats won the Nobel Prize in December of 1923. He is known as a symbolist poet, because most of his poetry uses symbols in order to create meaning.
He Wishes For the Cloths of Heaven
- William Butler Yeats
Had I the heavens' embroidered cloths,
Enwrought with golden and silver light,
The blue and the dim and the dark cloths
Of night and light and the half-light,
I would spread the cloths under your feet:
But I, being poor, have only my dreams;
I have spread my dreams under your feet;
Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.
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Thursday, June 12, 2008
-By Audrey Gamble, Grade 9
I stare up at the clouds, puffy and white
Startlingly clear and blue sky peeking through
I see figures - a dragon and a knight
Drifting up, a hot air balloon takes flight
All its colors flying so bold and true
I stare up at the clouds, puffy and white
Flawless peace, it's free of hatred and spite
Images that I mistake and construe
I see figures - a dragon and a knight
The sun is so warm, comforting and bright
Drying away all the damp morning dew
I stare up at the clouds, puffy and white
I'm breathless at such a beautiful sight
Crisp fresh air and a warm summer breeze too
I see figures - a dragon and a knight
Such a great day makes me fearful of night
But I feel content as I say adieu
I stare up at the clouds, puffy and white
I see figures - a dragon and a knight 
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Tuesday, June 10, 2008
The following blog entry was written by Sarah Solomon, an intern here at READ.
Today is Maurice Sendak's 80th birthday, so let's take some time to admire the illustrious illustrations he has done.
Maurice Sendak was born in Brooklyn on June 10th, 1928. As soon as he saw Fantasia by Walt Disney when he was 12 years old, he knew he wanted to become an illustrator.
He started illustrating other authors' children's books, and learned how to adjust his style of drawing to the other authors' writings. After a while he started writing and illustrating his own books. His two most famous works are Where the Wild Things Are (1963) and In the Night Kitchen (1970), both children's books.
Both of these books have a common theme. The protagonist, a young boy, is bored or fed up with his waking life so he travels to an imaginary place.
In Where the Wild Things Are, Max gets in trouble with his mom and is punished by being sent to his room with no supper. There his bedroom turns into a forest, and he travels to where the wild things are:
That very night in Max's room a forest grew
and grew-
and grew until his ceiling hung with vines
and the walls became the world all around
and on ocean tumbled by with a private boat for Max
and he sailed off through night and day
and in and out of weeks
and almost over a year
to where the wild things are.
In In The Night Kitchen, Mickey dreams that he is baked into a cake by three bakers and then flies a plane made out of bread dough to the top of a giant bottle of milk. Mickey is completely naked for most of the book, and because of that, In the Night Kitchen became the 25th most challenged book between 1990 and 2000 according to the American Library Association's "list of challenged and banned books".
Both of these books have distinct illustrations with ferocious colors and beautiful drawings. Check 'em out!
Where The Wild Things Are
In The Night Kitchen
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