Don't Drown My Heart

(The rules we had to use for the sonnet:
10 syllables per line,
Following the pattern:
a
b
a
b
c
d
c
d
e
f
e
f
g
g

It was based off of a photomanipulation I made: 
http://browse.deviantart.com/?qh=§ion=&global=1&q=summon-my-soul#/d3mzcu9)

 
Please don't let me drown, don't push me away.
I promise you I'll keep quiet as you want, 
But only if you promise me you'll stay.
Don't drown my heart, dear, I'll remain extant.
 
I apologize if I speak out of place,
Or forget to bow to you as you walk,
But, dear, I'm tired of shadowing your pace.
When I'm with you, I'm not to even talk.
 
Dear, I fear I no longer feel the rue,
Of being gallant enough to leave you.

Comments & reviews · 2
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Kale
Review
Kale wrote a review · Wed May 09, 2012 9:12 pm

The thing about sonnets is, aside from the 10 syllables per line and the pattern of rhyming, within each line, the meter must be iambic. In other words, there's a pattern of emphasis (like a beat) that the words in each line have to follow, and it goes unstressed-stressed, or da-DUM.

Right now, several of the lines in this do not follow that beat, and it made reading this a bit awkward since the meter was different in some lines than what I was expecting it to be.

If we take the first line of one of Shakespeare's sonnets, you'll be able to see how the pattern of stresses (the meter, or beat) goes. I've bolded the stressed syllables.

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?

As you can see, the pattern of beats is very regular.

One of the challenges of writing a sonnet is following the meter, in addition to the rhyme scheme and syllable count, but if you can pull it off, it's so satisfying.

You have a good start here, but it needs some tweaking before it can truly be called a sonnet.

User avatar
AliyahPillage
Comment

I really love the flow and beat of this poem :D Keep up the good work.



who you become at your worst isn't who you are
— canopy