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Poetry Explication
Sarah Clinch
Denise Howard Long
English 301
02/05/08
Love Procrastinated: A Study in the Use of Satire to Diminish a Sonnet
Sonnet - Billy Collins
All we need is fourteen lines, well, thirteen now,
and after this one just a dozen
to launch a little ship on love's storm-tossed seas,
then only ten more left like rows of beans.
How easily it goes unless you get Elizabethan
and insist the iambic bongos must be played
and rhymes positioned at the ends of lines,
one for every station of the cross.
But hang on here wile we make the turn
into the final six where all will be resolved,
where longing and heartache will find an end,
where Laura will tell Petrarch to put down his pen,
take off those crazy medieval tights,
blow out the lights, and come at last to bed.
Billy Collins, in his “Sonnet,” satirizes the sonnet’s capacity to express love in merely
fourteen lines. Collins, utilizing his tone throughout, indicates the modern American’s haste in
enjoining, and simultaneously, waste of time and energy, on less than worthwhile endeavors.
Ordinarily, it is safe to assume the speaker as a separate identity from the poet himself; however,
the personal and emotional ties to the poem suggest Collins and the voice of his piece to be one
and the same. The usage of a particular name, Laura, determines Collins as the speaker, for while
the name could be a personal reference to anyone, “Laura” instructs the speaker to “put down his
pen,” (DiYanni 738) thereby tagging the speaker as a writer, and therefore, we can logically
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assume, Collins himself. Collins’s piece hails as a “Sonnet,” though many discrepancies arise
throughout which do not comply with the normally accepted structure of a sonnet. Yet, enough
similarities exist to the point where we can perhaps label the piece as a “contemporary,” or
“modern” sonnet. Throughout the fourteen short lines of the piece, the speaker whittles down his
time until finally he runs out of space as well as time, and has not written anything close to a
structure-perfect sonnet.
Petrarchan sonnets have an octave rhyming abba abba and a sestet rhyming one of many
ways, usually cdcdcd. Petrarchan sonnets never end in a couplet; the practice of ending poetry in
rhymed lines was frowned upon in Italy (Miller). Another well-known and accepted form of
sonnet structure, the Shakespearean sonnet, consists of three quatrains, rhyming abab cdcd efef,
and a couplet, rhyming gg (Miller). A lesser known form of sonnet structure, the Spenserian
sonnet, consists of three quatrains which blend together into one section since the rhyme scheme
flows in an abab bcbc cdcd pattern. The Spenserian sonnet ends in a final couplet rhyming ee
(Miller). While each of these structures continue to be in use today, it appears Collins has
disregarded them all, and has instead attempted his own form of sonnet. Each form of sonnet
discussed above divides itself into sections; however, Collins’s “Sonnet” appears to be one
continuous thought. Read start to finish, the piece lacks breaks, and so defeats the recognized
forms of sonnets. Sonnets typically employ iambic pentameter, or five sets of unstressed then
stressed syllables, as the accepted meter; yet, Collins’s piece has only three lines containing
perfect iambic pentameter, “then only ten more left like rows of beans” / “and rhymes
positioned at the ends of lines” / “blow out the lights, and come at last to bed” (DiYanni 738
[emphasis mine (shows stresses syllables)]. Ironically, since Shakespearean sonnets end in a
rhymed couplet, it appears, while not end rhyme, Collins has included “tights” and “lights” in the
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last two lines. These two words stand out as the only items rhyming within the entire poem. The
rest of the lines in the piece have free form, meaning they do not fit into any poetic category in
terms of meter. Collins rejects the common forms of sonnet, perhaps proving how possible it is
to reject accepted forms of thinking, to coexist with them at the same time, and to thrive as a free
thinker and individual.
“Sonnet” individualistically illustrates the rejection of the traditional sonnet through its
free verse. By using the free verse, Collins preaches freedom from authority and an absence of
objectivity. The anarchist of poetry, free verse, finds new ways to translate meaning from poetry.
By using some of the same conventions as the traditional sonnets, Collins manages to satirize the
genre of poetry while simultaneously including his piece within the genre. “Sonnet” applies
similes when, in line six, the speaker states, “only ten more, left like a row of beans” (DiYanni
783), which, in comparing the lines leftover in the sonnet to beans, may point to the absurdity of
limiting oneself so narrowly. Metaphor, extremely similar to simile, connects a sonnet to a “little
ship on love’s storm-tossed seas” (DiYanni 737), implying the almost absurdity of attempting to
preach love in merely fourteen lines. Another metaphor, “iambic bongos must be played”
(DiYanni 783), states the seemingly necessary rules of sonnets, in this case the iambic
pentameter rhyme scheme, govern how to write a sonnet. However, the musical instrument
mentioned, bongos, have a free form. When played, the musician merely needs to feel out the
beat, instead of playing by prescribed notes. Inadvertently, Collins defies the usual rules for
sonnets and plays out his own beat. Collins heavily invokes symbolism; for example, in the last
line the speaker mentions “blow[ing] out the lights” (DiYanni 738), a usually straightforward
action. Light is a common symbol for knowledge or empowerment, and, in the context of the
poem, the line might represent a defeat of the a priori assumptions about sonnets as a whole. In
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other words, when the speaker “blow[s] out the lights” (DiYanni 738), he also ends the
monarchial reign of rules upon poetry, specifically upon sonnets. Another symbol relates the
fourteen lines of a sonnet to the fourteen Stations of the Cross, as the speaker states, “one for
every station of the cross” (DiYanni 738). The Stations of the Cross are the fourteen scenes
primarily used to portray the Passion of the Christ. From Pontius Pilate condemning Jesus to die
to when they laid Jesus in the tomb, the Passion is a story of the death of a king, and the
beginning of a legacy lasting thousands of years, Christianity. The Stations of the Cross parallel
the traditional structure of the sonnet. Traditional sonnets are on their way to death, while
contemporary sonnets are just starting to take up their crosses, beginning to prove themselves as
worthy and as poetry in their own right.
The contemporary sonnet, as introduced by Collins, proves itself, standing on its own, as
a worthy piece of poetry by satirizing the narrow window allowed to writers of sonnets. The
references to time throughout the piece serve to count down the remaining lines as well as to
demonstrate the time wasted by worrying about what remains. From fourteen to one, each line
serves as a procrastination, postponing the weepy, sappy, and lyrical lines made famous by
traditional sonnets. The speaker never quite mentions anything related to his love for the woman
he writes for. The closest he comes, on line eleven, states “where longing and heartache will find
an end” (DiYanni 738); yet even then the line serves as an introduction to the love letter never
quite penned. By wasting his words and worrying about what to write instead of merely putting
his thoughts to paper, the speaker fails to give us a sonnet about love, love being the main theme
of traditional sonnets. Deviating from normalcy, Collins proves to us the irrationality of
prescribing only fourteen lines to the “sonnet.”
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Collins includes such themes as the irrationality of the length of the sonnet, the end of the
traditional sonnet and the beginning of the contemporary sonnet, and individuality and free
thought within his poem “Sonnet.” Another theme expressed in the sonnet, found in the last few
lines of the piece, articulates the need for sonnet writers to stop writing about love and to start
living it. The sonnet reads, “where Laura will tell Petrarch to put down his pen, take off those
crazy medieval tights, blow out the lights, and come at last to bed” (DiYanni 738). The imagery
in these last three lines infers a façade, where the speaker removes his poetic mask and returns to
the world at large, and to practical love, as opposed to fantastical love. “Laura” calls her lover,
the speaker, “Petrarch” (DiYanni 738), the namesake of the Petrarchan sonnet. In an attempt to
rewrite the traditional sonnets, the speaker dons the name; yet, when he discovers the
unnecessary structuring and rules, he tears the mask off, becoming himself again. The costume
he wears, the “medieval tights” (DiYanni 738), is similarly worn when the speaker attempts the
traditional sonnet. When he realizes he does not in fact need to follow the rules and can instead
live love, he tears them off. Once the speaker frees himself from the binds of the costuming, he
“blow[s] out the lights” (DiYanni 738), an act attributed not to electricity, but to candles. To
heighten the illusion, candlelight reflects the medieval reality of the traditional sonnet. Putting
out the flame allows the speaker to begin his contemporary search for love and how to express it.
Acting upon impulses instead of merely writing about them, absurdity of limiting
emotions to fourteen lines, individuality and free thought, and the end of the traditional sonnet
and the beginning of the contemporary sonnet’s reign all exude from Collins’s “Sonnet.” If he
can pack so much into fourteen lines, is it possible the contemporary sonnet is the wave of poetic
future?
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Works Cited
DiYanni, Robert. Literature: Approaches to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. 2nd edition. New York:
McGraw Hill, 2004.
Miller, Nelson. "Basic Sonnet Forms." Writer's Exchange Board 05 Feb 2008
<http://www.sonnets.org/basicforms.htm>.