Sonnets for a Plague (II)
poetry by
heather
12 December 2001
9 comments
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1.
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In plague years, so the chronicler tells us,
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brantley:
Thinking about your question below, perhaps the answer would be to specify even more, really locate it in time and place. At this point, it sounds like you could be talking about any european country between 700-1500. (Just an idea) |
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they counted the dead in days of silence
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and kept the priests from their bells
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lest the sound remind the living
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that their death had a name
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and snap the delicate mooring lines
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of those drifting humors
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that held soul to body,
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and body to earth.
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In this time of plague,
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perhaps we will be spared their fate
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if the bells are not allowed to stop --
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a death toll constantly kept --
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and history is written with their ringing.
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2.
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Today the forecast calls for hail,
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brantley:
The rhythm (very pronounced) and enjambment on these lines is particulary effective. Really engaging, and also oddly humorous (though not inappropriately). |
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and yesterday we got two feet
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of frogs. Tomorrow locusts,
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due by noon. Soon, we will
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do nothing but crouch beneath
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cgroom:
This is a great line, and I'm not a poet -- but what do you think of the word "cower", which implies a more active kind of fear? |
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the darkening sky and wonder
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what falls next. I watch
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while others wade red rivers,
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gabriel:
Wow. I fear for anyone who tries to read that one aloud... ;^> |
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gabriel:
... which is not to say that I dislike it. I think the bait and change with the alliteration there works as (decorous) humor. (As Brantley was saying above.) |
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up to their thighs in tears and rubble
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and through it all, I stole
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a season and was happy.
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cgroom:
I love the breathless length of this line after the previous short ones. |
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In this time of plague,
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you were the blood
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gabriel:
Hrm. Could you somehow slip in a way for us to know who "you" is? (Unless that's intentionally left unclear... but I'm left wondering as things stand.) |
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on my lintel.
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heather:
I know everyone said the second section of the first sonnet was "chatty" but I can't figure out what to cut. Suggestions?
Regarding the background: I was teaching the black death in 14th century Italy in section on 9/12. Despite the number of deaths, the priests were not allowed to ring the church bells when people died because of beliefs at the time about disease. Since illness was supposed to be caused by unballanced humors, it was feared that the sound of the bells would depress people and make them more vulnerable to the disease. There is also some very interesting historiography on the importance of church bells in early modern England.
Lord. Yes, I am a historian. Why do you ask? |
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cgroom:
What can I say? These are amazing. (And yes, you are a historian...) |
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Content © copyright 2001 by Heather R. Weidner. All rights reserved.