Yes, as a poem. No, as a sonnet.
No single line in this short a poem carries enough weight by itself to constitute a sonnet line in my undistinguished opinion. There is something about lines to be considered here: 14 lines yes, but what is a
line in a sonnet? I believe each couplet is holding itself as a line, with some connection(s)/ tensions developed in each of those lines. I don't believe a line is any set of words ending in a line break, but, particularly in a sonnet, where the "lines" are counted, is an element that picks up a thread of meaning and partially develops it or contributes to its development. Each "line" of dimeter in this piece seems to have a strong need for its "mate" in the couplet. In one of the more favored couplets for ex,
Quote:
Thus much Unjust
still leaves Nonplussed
|
Each line alone does not stand really but needs the other line.
Thus much Unjust itself doesn't do anything. The poem has 7 "sonnet-style" lines.
These ideas however only apply to a sonnet, I think. I love the spacing and what it does, but that technique, however sophisticated and useful, is not one of the techniques of a sonnet. Call it something else, I rather like it! But a sonnet is not just a poem with 14 lines, "lines" being any group of words that ends in a line break. Each line should be a line in a more traditional sense, and it should "work" without the use of spacing techniques. Give those techniques, and this form, a name, and let it have its own competition...
Old Guard Schoolmarm Naysayer