On Sonnets
The reader may notice novel sonnet forms among the many sonnets in the "cathedral," such as those of "Tree River" and "The Little Shepherd of Peace." These novel forms were not randomly created but created to enhance the subject matter of the sonnet-poem. There are, as well, many sonnets that have traditional sonnet structures, including the English form of three quatrains and a couplet ("The City of God"), the Petrarchan with an octave rhyming abbaabba and octet typically rhyming cdecde ("The Sound of Water," "Judge Not") or cdcdee ("The Day of the Lord"). I also employ the Spenserian sonnet form of ababbcbccdcdee ("Heaven's Sea") but, I believe, to different effect.
The English sonnet has remarkable versatility in terms of the subject matter it can hold. The three quatrains may act as 3 different views of the same subject, creating a triangular unity, an impression of completeness or fullness. The final couplet, reflecting on the three quatrains as a whole, can illuminate each quatrain and act as a kind of "eye" in the middle of the triangular unity. Thus, an "Eye of God" form, which most of us are familiar with as it appears on the U.S. dollar bill, is effected. "The City of God" in the section The Will of Mary & Other Poems reveals this union of form and substance with the English sonnet structure.
The Petrarchan sonnet form possesses different but equal versatility. The first octet lines reveal a problem, a box within a box, so to speak. Then the sestet resolves the conundrum with a more lyrical, flowing form in the cdecde rhymes (such as with "The Sound of Water") or perhaps a new take on the boxes with a Jack-in-the-box effect -- with a cdcd quatrain as the new box and the couplet serving as the uplifting revelation (such as with "The Day of the Lord").
Spenser appears to have employed his rhyme scheme as a modified English form organizing the lines into 3 quatrains and a couplet. I saw his scheme as enhancing a different model in which the 1st and 3rd lines would introduce a larger theme represented in the 2nd, 4th, 5th, and 7th lines, which would contrast with the other large theme in the 6th, 8th, 9th, and 11th lines. The 10th and 12th lines would conclude the latter of the larger themes and then the couplet would reflect on the meaning of the first 12 lines as a whole and offer the parting conclusion. "Heaven's Sea" follows this pattern of form and subject.
Being conscious of matching form and substance, or sound and sense, through my study and use of the traditional forms, I began to yearn for a more lyrical pattern, something that would allow a major theme to be introduced but interspersed with reflection, a more wavy pattern that would reflect more natural musing. I imagined and played with a number of patterns and then settled on the pattern employed in "Tree River" and "Midnight Trees." Notice how the "tree" theme is introduced right away and then is extended gradually. Meanwhile, the lines focusing on the river are developed, then a new idea or shifting occurs but the main theme is yet present. Then the resolution, the concluding grace, is lyrically and boldly played out with two final couplets.
After writing with the "Tree River" form, I felt adventurous and began to shift the sonnet form as my inspirations for short poems, for sonnets, required. See "The Little Shepherd of Peace," for instance, and contemplate how its novel sonnet structure enhances the poem's themes. "Inviolate Life" in the section The Will of Mary & Other Poems is a variation on the "Tree River" form wherein the structure nicely enhances the poem's meaning.
I have employed many, many novel sonnet structures with my sonnets. I hope to include many of these sonnets in the "cathedral" as time and grace allow.