A sonnet is a form of poetry that originated in Europe, mainly Italy: the Sicilian poet Giacomo da Lentini is credited with its invention. They commonly contain 14 lines. The term "sonnet" derives only from the Occitan word sonet and the Italian word sonetto, both meaning "little song" or "little sound". By the thirteenth century, it signified a poem of fourteen lines that follows a strict rhyme scheme and specific structure. Conventions associated with the sonnet have evolved over its history. Writers of sonnets are sometimes called "sonneteers," although the term can be used derisively. One of the best-known sonnet writers is William Shakespeare, who wrote 154 of them (not including those that appear in his plays). A Shakespearean, or English, sonnet consists of 14 lines, each line containing ten syllables and written in iambic pentameter, in which a pattern of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable is repeated five times. The rhyme scheme in a Shakespearean sonnet is a-b-a-b, c-d-c-d, e-f-e-f, g-g; the last two lines are a rhyming couplet.
William Shakespeare (baptised 26 April 1564; died 23 April 1616) was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon". His surviving works, including some collaborations, consist of about 38 plays, 154 sonnets, two long narrative poems, and several other poems. His plays have been translated into every major living language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright.
Shakespeare was born and brought up in Stratford-upon-Avon. At the age of 18, he married Anne Hathaway, with whom he had three children: Susanna, and twins Hamnet and Judith. Between 1585 and 1592, he began a successful career in London as an actor, writer, and part owner of a playing company called the Lord Chamberlain's Men, later known as the King's Men. He appears to have retired to Stratford around 1613 at age 49, where he died three years later. Few records of Shakespeare's private life survive, and there has been considerable speculation about such matters as his physical appearance, sexuality, religious beliefs, and whether the works attributed to him were written by others.
Rufus McGarrigle Wainwright (born July 22, 1973) is an American-Canadian singer-songwriter and composer. He has recorded seven albums of original music and numerous tracks on compilations and film soundtracks. He has also written a classical opera and set Shakespeare sonnets to music for a theater piece by Robert Wilson.
Wainwright was born in Rhinebeck, New York, to folk singers Kate McGarrigle and Loudon Wainwright III. His parents divorced when he was three, and he lived with his mother in Montreal for most of his youth. Wainwright has dual US and Canadian citizenship. He attended high school at the Millbrook School in New York (which would later inspire his song "Millbrook"), and later briefly studied piano at McGill in Montreal. He began playing the piano at age six, and started touring at 13 with "The McGarrigle Sisters and Family", a folk group featuring Rufus, his sister Martha, his mother Kate, and aunt Anna. His song "I'm a-Runnin'", which he performed in the film Tommy Tricker and the Stamp Traveller at the age of 14, earned him a nomination for a 1989 Genie Award for Best Original Song. He was nominated for a 1990 Juno Award for Most Promising Male Vocalist of the Year.
Courtesy of blank intuition.
This lattice is torn repeatedly
frame by frame.
by you.
And within withering syncopation
in time (totality) escaped: me. create me.
a neoteric identity
by you.
Blistered, secreting everything
into expansion from sin.
forcibly redefined subdominant
by you.
by blinding modern marrow
by you.
I sent you a sonnet
I stole from a woman
Who shared all my fears
You'll never imagine the courage it cost me
To wait out the years
Knowing that time was against ever meeting you
Loving you still for your songs
Trusting the truth of the lyrics
I've learned from you
Wishing on stars and singing on street corners
Hoping that you'd come along
And if you should hear this don't
Feel obligations to answer these lines
I'm happy just knowing I've
Told you I love you within these poor rhymes
Portuguese sonnets and second hand songwriters
Sending you fan-letter love cannot express
All the beauty I see in you
Found in your words,
Locked in your songs
My friend and me Looking through her red box of memories Faded I'm sure But love seems to stick in her veins you know
Yes, there's love if you want it Don't sound like no sonnet, my lord Yes, there's love if you want it Don't sound like no sonnet, my lord My lord
Why can't you see That nature has its way of warning me Eyes open wide Looking at the heavens with a tear in my eye
Yes, there's love if you want it Don't sound like no sonnet, my lord Yes, there's love if you want it Don't sound like no sonnet, my lord My lord
Sinking faster than a boat without a hull My lord Dreaming about the day when I can see you there My side By my side
When the bells of the sea sound from the deep
And mist, like lands about to vanish
The shadows of the past begin to speak
Oh Lyonesse, sweet Lyonesse
I wish that I could freely wander through your hills
And touch the nightly visions that you held
Beyond the price of things for which man kills
And for which Merlin's wisdom always spell'd
Ah, Lyonesse, sweet Lyonesse
I saw men with shire horses making fields, not war
The sunshine playing with children on the shore
As the dream of you touched me to the core
Beyond the sight of men
Beyond my grasp
The dream of you is something
where can i turn for comfort?
where do the cold days end?
where has the sunshine gone?
where do our two hearts blend?
where has love gone and hidden?
where must i go to find?
the more i shun romance,
the more love is defined
indulge me
pick a dozen black roses
lay them at my feet
buried in golgotha
amongst the dead's elite
blink one more time and eden will be gone
buried in red hair of fire
drunk on eyes azure blue
serenade the gothic queen,
for her burial is at noon
put aside amorous thoughts, ancient
chivalry is doomed
smile one more time and my angel will be gone
screams - 400 years gone by
tears - i kiss her where she lies
soaking in a bath of blood,
inviting is such naked flesh
what do temptations convey?
flowers grow in disarray
the world engulfed in darkness,
one glance brings years of gloom
i only cry when she smiles,
i have cried much too soon
my lady doth await me,
her eyes reflect the sun
her wicked sins provoke me,
my love has come undone
enthrall me
your scowl makes me smile
eden's leaves cover me
if only for a little while
a rose petal for each tear
a drop of dew for each year
consolation for your death will be an
eternity left alone
do not perish tonight, do not kill what
guido, i wish that you and lapo and i
could be taken by magic and placed in a boat
where every rising swell
would sweep us at our will across the sky
then tempest never, or weather dire
could ever make our blissful living cease
no, but abiding in a steady, blessed peace
together in harmony
and lady vanna and lagia then
she who looms the thirty best
would join us at the enchanter's behest
and there we'd talk of love without an end
to make those ladies happy in the sky
My friend and me
Looking through her red box of memories
Faded I'm sure
But love seems to stick in her veins you know
Yes, there's love if you want it
Don't sound like no sonnet, my lord
Yes, there's love if you want it
Don't sound like no sonnet, my lord
My lord
Why can't you see
That nature has its way of warning me
Eyes open wide
Looking at the heavens with a tear in my eye
Yes, there's love if you want it
Don't sound like no sonnet, my lord
Yes, there's love if you want it
Don't sound like no sonnet, my lord
My lord
Sinking fast within a boat without a hull
My lord
Dreaming about the day when I can see you there
My side
By my side
Here we go again and my head is gone, my lord
I stop to say hello
'Cause I think you should know by now
By now
By now
By now
By now
By now
Oh, by now
Oh, by now
Oh, by now
Courtesy of blank intuition.
This lattice is torn repeatedly
frame by frame.
by you.
And within withering syncopation
in time (totality) escaped: me. create me.
a neoteric identity
by you.
Blistered, secreting everything
into expansion from sin.
forcibly redefined subdominant
by you.
by blinding modern marrow
Because You Love Me
I Can Look With Quiet Faith
Beyond Life's Lightning Flash
And Thunder Roll
And Glimpse The Rainbow Arch
Like Some Angelic Wraith
While Impatient Years Exact Demanding Toll
Because You Love Me
My Soul Can Soar With Eagle Wings
Above My Crowding Failures
And Disenchanting Deed
Explore Beyond Life's Sunset
Where The Heavenly Choir Sings
Climb Nobly To The Summit
Where Love Alone Can Lead
Because You Love Me
You May Still Perchance Forgive
Young Love's Towering Expectations
Laid Now To Rest
Those Unfulfilled Dreams
Which Somehow Still Must Live
Cloistered Beneath The Portals
Of A Matron Breast
Because You Love Me
Milestones Are Like Jewels Fair
Priceless Treasures
From God's Sacred Vault Of Time
I Thank You For The Beauty
And Meaning In The Life We Share
And Praise God For The Blessing
My friend and me
Looking through her red box of memories
Faded I'm sure
But love seems to stick in her veins you know
Yes, there's love if you want it
Don't sound like no sonnet, my lord
Yes, there's love if you want it
Don't sound like no sonnet, my lord
My lord
Why can't you see
That nature has its way of warning me
Eyes open wide
Looking at the heavens with a tear in my eye
Yes, there's love if you want it
Don't sound like no sonnet, my lord
Yes, there's love if you want it
Don't sound like no sonnet, my lord
My lord
Sinking fast within a boat without a hull
My lord
Dreaming about the day when I can see you there
My side
By my side
Here we go again and my head is gone, my lord
I stop to say hello
'Cause I think you should know by now
By now
By now
By now
By now
By now
Oh, by now
Oh, by now
Oh, by now
Oh, by now