Sonnet Bake-off
Much of the debate about "formal" poetry concerns the use of received forms and the question of whether meter and rhyme add anything to the communication of poetic thought. However, this debate about the efficacy of poetic form, which "formalist" poets love to engage in, often ignores the fundamental problem of much of current "formalism", which is that many "formal" poets write uninteresting verse. The ten sonnets chosen her as the best of some three hundred submissions are intelligent, pleasant, well-crafted poems. Some of them are "light," some of them are religious, some of them are sentimental. Many of them seem like the sort of poems that were sent to the editors of 19th century newspapers. I do not think, however, that they could be fairly described as challenging, dramatic, complicated, or socially engaged. Until "formalist" poets, including those who write sonnets, use form to address post-modernist (or even modernist) issues, "formalism" will remain a niche market for poetry. Let me note that I sent in a sonnet that was not chosen, so feel free to characterize my criticism as sour grapes.
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