We're having this discussion about our upcoming annual sonnet contest.
At this point, I've read thousands of would be sonnets, between regular BTS entries and the contest submissions.
We've had contenders which stretch the form, deliberately diverging from the traditional, but almost every one of those I have read has ultimately struck me as some sort of exercise, a virtuoso pianist having fun with scales. None of them have overcome their 'anti-form' focus to deliver a poem that transcends form.
The ones which are a metrical mess sometimes come closer.
Whether writing a sonnet or any other form, I personally believe that the poem should make the form entirely secondary. That said, writing transcendent poetry in form does, I think, require full mastery of the form.
Form poetry, to me, is similar different genres of music or dance. A master taking creative license within any genre can result in something breathtaking, but it's very rare. Dancing flamenco and calling it ballet is not creative, just confusing.
This desire of artists and poets to either 'break the rules' or 'throw the rules away' isn't new. It has existed for centuries. Yet we still have teachable skills in all the arts. It is talent and inspiration which transcend skill. Whether they can succeed without the skill remains the eternally debated question.
|