Doug Vinson Poet Sonnet

Notes About The Poem

Shakespearean sonnet, leaning hard on iambic pentameter.

The Seeker

Act 2, Scene 4.
The Salisbury plain. Within a henge, a watchfire burns. The Seer approaches The Seeker.

Take heed, my friend, our part in cosmic cheat
Plays on; below the stage the truth lies quite.
Hold off the blazing sun's firstfound deceit,
Trust only in the filtered lunar light.

Maids long for wifely pleasure while wives cry
For their lost maidenhood, each of a date
They'd cast away; while Fate presides on high,
With ever laughing countenance it waits.

Mere mortal men lie dreaming all bewitched;
They ken not of the ruse nor hollow fake
Which gods employ on them, their eyes bestitched,
Awash in hope shown false if they would wake.

Unknowing we are born, Illusion's tide
A ceaseless pull, until the great divide.

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White Wolf April 11, 2017 at 7:23 PM Just going through my favourite poems and came across this again! I myself have not written a sonnet that I am proud of yet, but you should be proud of this mate! Doug Vinson April 12, 2017 at 6:59 AM Thanks, Budgie. : ) Still a few things I don't really like - need to fix.... : p

Deborah Burch December 15, 2016 at 11:33 AM Bravo!!! Doug!! Well done...Deb Doug Vinson December 15, 2016 at 10:15 PM Thanks, Deb. Hope the holiday reason rocks for you.

Paloma P December 15, 2016 at 6:57 AM Cleverly writ sonnet, an intriguingly stunning depiction, for some reason I kept thinking, from different planets. :) Doug Vinson December 15, 2016 at 10:13 PM I'm not from a different planet, but I work with a few people that are.

Robert Lindley December 14, 2016 at 11:21 AM Yes, the key is to give the first message in an understood and solid way but leave that little key to another door for the reader to enter other realms in his or her own personal understanding/life. Tis a very hard task to pull off methinks but every truly great sonnet does it. Doing that easily out trumps all other considerations be they about strict form, grammar, etc..

Robert Lindley December 13, 2016 at 7:45 PM Magnificent sonnet....To me sonnets require compacting into 140 syllables ideas/thoughts, tales/ imagery, subjects, emotions, messages , etc = things that would normally require far, far more words/syllables. Add in rhyme, /other requirements and I think its the hardest form to compose in. This one is a gem.. Robert Lindley December 14, 2016 at 11:20 AM Yes, the key is to give the first message in an understood and solid way but leave that little key to another door for the reader to enter other realms in his or her own personal understanding/life. Tis a very hard task to pull off methinks but every truly great sonnet does it. Doing that easily out trumps all other considerations be they about strict form, grammar, etc.. Doug Vinson December 14, 2016 at 4:43 AM Thanks, Robert. I think you are right - it should be compact, rather tight. During composition, that tightness often means that any changes have far-reaching consequences.

Freddie Robinson Jr. December 13, 2016 at 10:23 AM A brilliant piece of poetry, Doug. Absolutely brilliant. The theme, the verse/stanza construct, the dialog ... on every level it is pure genius. A truly remarkable work of art by a skilled poet. Love and many blessings to you. Doug Vinson December 13, 2016 at 1:06 PM Thank you, RW. : ) I worked on this one. TheSeeker (Tom) challenged me to do one - all iambic pentameter.

Chris Green December 13, 2016 at 9:05 AM Very well written, the poem, the story, the scene portrayed. You did an amazing job with the rhymes, virtually invisible because of the smooth flow and the thought entrancing storyline. Very cool. Doug Vinson December 13, 2016 at 1:05 PM Cheers, Chris. I know very little about Shakespeare, but was trying to emulate his tone and image-producing language - which he does very well in Richard II, in my opinion. And maybe all his plays are like that....

White Wolf December 13, 2016 at 2:24 AM Wowza! Doug! This is a phenomenal sonnet! Mate! This is going to my fav's mate! Gotta keep my eye on you mate! Doug Vinson December 13, 2016 at 2:46 AM I started on this, wrote a few lines that I thought were really good, and then saw that they were 12 syllables. : P Got to the point where I had 10 syllables per line... Oh crap - forgot that stuff had to rhyme! Pity, since without rhyme's constraint, one can really pack in more cool words, as Shakespeare often did in other writing. Composed as I bounced around as a passenger in a truck for 8 hours today. White Wolf December 13, 2016 at 2:43 AM This is one of the best I've read on this site mate! Doug Vinson December 13, 2016 at 2:38 AM Whew - thank you, Rick. My opinion - the quatrains rhyming every other line is a thing that takes some getting used to. Not an issue when a poem has very short lines, but with twenty syllables between rhyming words, one's mind has to hold on to the first one for a relatively long time. Perhaps it just takes practice reading sonnets or the like. Perhaps it's more an "adult" thing, versus simpler stuff that would appeal to kids.