3. My Attempt At One-Upping Shakespear

So, apparently Shakespeare was pretty amazing. Kind of a "no duh" statement, but my appreciation for the guy grew fourfold in this last week. The reason being; I wrote a sonnet following Shakespeare's rhyme scheme and meter--and it was pretty hard.

So apparently this Englishman wrote something like 154 sonnets in his working life. All of them were written in his rhyme scheme of three four lined stanzas ending with a couplet (abab cdcd efef gg). He also wrote in iambic pentameter; a meter in which there are five beets (da DUM, da DUM, da DUM, da DUM, da DUM). Pretty prolific if you ask me. A good example of this meter are the opening lines from his sonnet Let Me Not To The Marriage Of True Minds:

Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove.

Pretty cool that he was so aware of how his words sounded as they roll off the tongue. I'd never realized this until my english 251 class.

So as for me and my sonnet, it was quite an experience writing in this style for the first time. I found my inspiration when watching the movie Taking Chance, and set to work soon after watching it. The biggest struggle was getting my words to fit comfortably into the iambic pantameter and I often felt like I was as effective as a parent trying to keep their kids quiet during sacrament meeting. Needless to say, I have a lot more respect for this Bill Shakespeare guy now. Anyone who can get his words to sound as pleasant as his and have as much meaning as they do merits my respect.

Anyways, here's my attempt at one-upping Shakespeare. It's no Shall I Compare Thee To A Summer's Day, but what is, right?

Two Soldiers
A sonnet inspired by the movie Taking Chance

T’was two soldiers on diff’ring battlefields
The one in perils of death in Iraq
The other who from a cubicle yields
A guilt that tortures him like the rack
He daily studies names of casualties
He recognizes the name of lieutenant Phelps.
Now being the escort to the deceased
Penance for not being there so as to help
A wooden cross, a black watch and dog tags
Grandmother’s medallion still shining clear
The living soldier carriers with a flag
To bear mem’ries to those who once were dear
Two soldiers brought onto one battlefield
With no witness each one would disappear