Mrs. Hudson's Poetry Page: The Missing Three-Quarter

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

Welcome once again to my poetry page!

I hope each week you will read Dr. Watson’s delightful narrative and then be inspired to write a poem related to it in some way. All forms of poetry are permitted, and further down the page there is a selection you might like to consider using over the coming weeks.

This week my featured form is the curtal sonnet.

The Encyclopaedia Britannica gives this definition:

a curtailed or contracted sonnet. It refers specifically to a sonnet of 11 lines rhyming abcabc dcbdc or abcabc dbcdc with the last line a tail, or half a line. The term was used by Gerard Manley Hopkins to describe the form that he used in such poems as Pied Beauty and Peace.

Some further information (thank you to Wikipedia):

The curtal sonnet is three-quarters of the structure of the Petrarchan sonnet: the octave of the sonnet becomes a sestet, and the sestet of the sonnet becomes four and a half lines.

In Pied Beauty Father Hopkins (any relation? I must ask the inspector…) uses the rhyme scheme abcabc dbcdc, and in Peace he uses abcabc dcbdc. However, I have also seen suggested elsewhere the schemes abcabc defde and abcabc dbede. So please use whichever version you prefer.

Incidentally, I was a little busy this week and I asked Mrs. Turner if she would not mind writing the poem for me.

I can only apologise.


Here is the example poem:


Watson said, “I was making a forward pass
“And then we put the tackle to the test.
“That’s why I was prostrate with Lestrade nearby.”
“And I too was conducting a rugby class,”
Said Holmes. “We then both needed a rest
“And so we lay on my bed, Hopkins and I.”

Mrs. Hudson gave a most amused snort
Her initial reply was swiftly suppressed.
Instead she said sweetly, “Is that not a lie?
“It wasn’t rugby; it was some other sport.
“But nice try.”



As always, this is simply something to consider for the future. Any form of poetry is welcome this week—and every week! Here are a few suggestions for you:

221B verselet, abecedarian poetry, acrostic poetry, alexandrine, blackout poetry, blues stanza, call and response, chastushka, cinquain, circular poetry, clerihew, colour poems, concrete poetry, curtal sonnet, diamante, doggerel, double dactyl, ekphrasis, elegiac couplet, englyn, epigram, epulaeryu, fable, found poetry, ghazal, haiku, kennings poem, lanturne, limerick, lyric poetry, palindrome poetry, pantoum, poem cycle, renga, riddle, rime couée, Schüttelreim, sedoka, septet, sestina, sonnet, tanka, tercet, terza rima, tongue twister poetry, triolet, tyburn, villanelle


Please leave all your poems inspired by The Missing Three-Quarter in the comments on this post. I look forward to seeing them!


Warm regards,

Mrs. Hudson

Comments

A curtal sonnet

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

Watson weaned Holmes off morphine and cocaine:
His friend’s health in his concerned safekeeping,
He conjures up the worst in his mind’s eye.
Again and again Holmes tries to explain—
The fiend may live and only be sleeping,
Yet Holmes insists he’s said his last goodbye.

But… before he planned to track Armstrong
(here unbidden the thought comes creeping,
demanding you judge what it might imply)
Holmes had already brought his syringe along.
I wonder why.

Re: A curtal sonnet

[okapi1895.livejournal.com]

Nice. I liked your bit (and Watson's) about the sleeping fiend.

Re: A curtal sonnet

[thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com]

Nicely put. Dr Watson does his very best to keep an eye on Mr Holmes.

Re: A curtal sonnet

[laurose8.livejournal.com]

Thanks for this thoughtful 60. The last 3 are particularly strong.

RE: A curtal sonnet

[debriswoman]

Very nice...and a strong ending.

[gardnerhill.livejournal.com]

Nicely done.

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

Thank you ^^

Limerick

[gardnerhill.livejournal.com]

A rugger gone missing. His trail,
By bike and by foot, Holmes did fail.
A syringe, aniseed
And a dog on a lead
Solved the heartbreaking end of the tale.

Re: Limerick

[okapi1895.livejournal.com]

Well done! So few words and the whole resolution of case encapsulated.

Re: Limerick

[thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com]

I like your summary of Holmes' various attempts to find the man.

Re: Limerick

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

I really like lines 3 & 4 - the rhythm and the rhymes work so well.

Re: Limerick

[laurose8.livejournal.com]

Well summarised, and neatly.

RE: Limerick

[debriswoman]

Neatly summarised:-)

attempt curtal sonnet

[okapi1895.livejournal.com]

Drink your tea, Watson. Early morn's found me scouting.
No haste. To your poached egg tend.
Ere we sup, we shall know the where and why,
Lest my skill you've been doubting.
Today we shall see this puzzling puzzle's end,
And from this dark oyster, a bitter pearl pry.

Aniseed on the carriage-wheel stealthy spent.
Save a rasher for our lop-eared friend.
The wily doctor shan't escape, ere he try
With the keenest draghound on the scent.
Fly, Pompey, fly!

Re: attempt curtal sonnet

[thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com]

This is a really great way of showing Holmes' thoughts/words at that point. Beautifully worded. The last line is brings it together so well.

Re: attempt curtal sonnet

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

That is excellent - very well done. You've really captured Holmes' voice in the poem.

What jumped out at me especially was And from this dark oyster, a bitter pearl pry, and on a lighter note Save a rasher for our lop-eared friend.

Re: attempt curtal sonnet

[laurose8.livejournal.com]

What a fine little poem, in a good Victorian voice.

Re: attempt curtal sonnet

[gardnerhill.livejournal.com]

Nicely done - sounds like an aside Holmes would make to the audience during a stage production of MISS.

RE: attempt curtal sonnet

[debriswoman]

Beautifully done...really gets into the spirit of the tale.
Very well done:-)

Mouselet has been singing this all week

[thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com]

My inspector says this is not p’lice work
Not his work as far as he can see
My inspector says it is not p’lice work
Oh bring my inspector to me

Please, please, Mr Holmes
Bring my inspector to me, to me
Please, please, Mr Holmes
Bring my inspector to me

Re: Mouselet has been singing this all week

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

Last night as I lay in my burrow
I thought for a very long time
To bring back my dear young inspector
I must become a Napoleon of crime

Bring back, bring back
Bring my inspector to me, to me!
To bring back, him back
I'm slipping arsenic in Mr. Holmes' tea!

Re: Mouselet has been singing this all week

[laurose8.livejournal.com]

You have our sympathy for a week of it, but it is charming and funny for us.

Please thank Mrs T

[thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com]

Her poem shows how gracious, and long-suffering, a landlady you truly are.

I do hope your lodgers, and their 'friends' show their appreciation sufficiently.

RE: Please thank Mrs T

[debriswoman]

Dear Mrs T
You had me at "try" in the last line:-p

Re: Another Curtal Sonnet

[thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com]

This is lovely - really shows the feelings of both Overton and Staunton.

Re: Written earlier: Peril

[thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com]

Excellent summary of what Holmes is like without mental stimulation.