Shakespeare

For Pagemasters Challenge #11. Inspired by Sonnet LXXVI.

 LXXVI

Why is my verse so barren of new pride,
So far from variation or quick change?
Why with the time do I not glance aside
To new-found methods, and to compounds strange?
Why write I still all one, ever the same,
And keep invention in a noted weed,
That every word doth almost tell my name,
Showing their birth, and where they did proceed?
O! know sweet love I always write of you,
And you and love are still my argument;
So all my best is dressing old words new,
Spending again what is already spent:
For as the sun is daily new and old,
So is my love still telling what is told.

William Shakespeare

 

Often write we the things we know, unshaken,

Those things we see, and dream, and dread.

Sometimes each new work could be mistaken,

For the one before or next to come instead.

And yet from deep and far within our souls,

We strive to share with others what we see.

Our most important dreams, and hopes, and goals.

All the things we want to know, and feel, and be.

To proclaim our joy or cleansing from some sin,

The page, alert to listen, understands.

The words connect to each the one within,

The pen forgiving… impatiently awaits our hand.

So write we must, and yes, we ever shall,

Yielding only when we've bowed our final bow.

 

Author's Note

Thank you all, you are so very generous. When I found this sonnet I knew I had found my inspiration. I had to do a little research on Mr. Shakespeare because I knew little about him. I learned that he was a master in iambic pentameter. I considered trying to duplicate his exact meter but I wanted this piece to be mine. And... I am just not that good. It is Shakespeare for crying out loud : >)
So instead I elected to try to match his rhyme scheme while still creating something of my own.
I have never read Shakespeare before, but I will now. I suspect perhaps that is what this challenge is all about. Skillfully done Jules!

Reviews

[Touché Armada]

I'm bias, because I love Shakespeare, and any and all emulation I think is his greatest honour
especially toward his love of love, and writing.. He was rumoured to be gay, and his dedication to the earl of Southhamton and Baron of Tichfield has been used to argue that. I don't agree though. I was told once, if you wish the peruse a life of literature only ever fall in love with those you can never hold, if you wish to peruse and pursue a life of academia don't fall in love at all.
I believe he might have often done the former. Love and inspiration at all cost, and its so rich and sickly to the stomach at times.

I offer this as a further:
Sonnet #138
When my love swears that she is made of truth
I do believe her, though I know she lies,
That she might think me some untutor'd youth,
Unlearned in the world's false subtleties.
Thus vainly thinking that she thinks me young,
Although she knows my days are past the best,
Simply I credit her false-speaking tongue:
On both sides thus is simple truth suppress'd.
But wherefore says she not she is unjust?
And wherefore say not I that I am old?
O, love's best habit is in seeming trust,
And age in love loves not to have years told:

Therefore I lie with her and she with me,
And in our faults by lies we flatter'd be.

[Jamie S.]

This one left a tingly feeling in my gut, I am a fan of Shakespeare as well. I would have loved to have been a fly on his wall! And your right, the pen is forgiving, my favorite line.

[R J Askew]

Christ! old Bill sounded pissed off in that sonnet...been there, done it, written it a zillion times...can't be arsed trying something new! And yet even when he's pissed off he's still right and says it with style. Love and sex, end of.

In your delightful and gentle poem my eye is caught by: 'And yet from deep and far within our souls, We strive...The words connect to each the one within...So write we must...' We know we can't match past maters but we still line the words up. Is it the most important thing we ever do? Does the universe exist but for us to write about it?

I wonder

[Fabian G. Franklin]

Very nice. I read Shakespeare when I was young, and Homer. Then I branched out to Byron, Keats, Shelley and every poet I could find, making favorites along the way. The first time I read Thoreau I thought I had died and gone to heaven, then read Emerson, Whitman and Dickinson...I'm mostly a poetry addict. I like John Donne a great deal. He had a ribald wit and interwoven verse that has gone underappreciated but seldom matched. This was an excellent turn on the Old Bard's words.

[TL Boehm]

the last two lines of your portion are anthemic. I am not a lover of Shakespeare, and I'm not sure why. I guess I'm a sham of a writer for not liking the Bard, although I do respect his body of work. Most adore him. I know no one who dismisses him....

[Nick Erickson]

"And yet from deep and far within our souls,
We strive to share with others what we see."

"Yielding only when we've bowed our final bow."

Truly inspiring, your chosen inspiration bringing about a masterpiece well written. The rhyme and flow was perfect.

[Wondering Mind]

A nicely written Shakespearean sonnet reflecting the theme of the original. You've met the challenge well.

[J.P. Bristow]

Had to stop by again...really loved this!!!!

[W.k.kortas]

The meter is a bit shaky (cf. the original's strict iambic pentameter), but it's certainly true to the theme.

[J]

Oh! This is brilliant! WELL done! This challenge has been simmering in the back of my mind as I did not know how to proceed. Thank you for pointing the way!