I was mucking about on Google the other day, and one thing led to another, and I wound up, of all places, at
http://www.gedichten.nl . . . which is to say, "poetry.n(ether)l(ands)." Now, about the only Dutch words I know are Van . . . and Halen, but I was feeling game, and so I dove right in, using Google Language Tools to sort things out as I went. And I made an interesting discovery. Our Dutch cousins have invented a clever new verse form, and apparently it's all the rage in Holland.
Introducing . . .
the Snelsonnet
If you know a little German, you've probably already guessed: a snelsonnet is a "quicksonnet," a truncated six-line form that does away with two quatrains, but still preserves the thesis-antithesis-(synthesis) structure of the traditional sonnet by observing a rigorous turn between quatrain and couplet. It is admirably suited to epigram and satire, as gedichten.nl's enormous archive of examples written "over de acualiteit" ("on the news") will attest. But I think it could be turned to most any subject or mood. Light or lapidary, it demands severe economy of expression, and that's always a spur to creativity in the willing poet.
Folks, this a great opportunity for us. I've Googled the word, using the Advanced Search function to limit results exclusively to pages in English. Nada. (Or should I say,
niets?) There isn't a single reference to the snelsonnet, in English, on the entire World Wide Web. But we can change that. Let the English snelsonnet begin!
* * *
For your reference, here is my translation of the Dutch Wikipedia page, "Snelsonnet." I apologize in advance to anyone who may find the second of the sample poems offensive in any way. I almost didn't translate it, but I suspect that the word "neger" is rather less strong in Dutch than its most obvious English cognate (though clearly it is offensive enough; hence the poem). As for "Yehoodies," the Dutch word is
jodenkoeken, literally "Jews-cookies." Apparently it’s a legit word in Dutch; there’s even a Wikipedia article about the treat (
here )--as there is, for that matter, about Negerzoenen (
here ). And who am I to censor the Poet Laureate of Holland?
Anyway, in case anyone thinks I'm making things up, I am including word-for-word translations of the two poems. I would eventually like to post the whole text to Wikipedia in English, so if anyone has strong feelings about the translations, you can let me know . . . though if that becomes a major focus here, we may be better off splitting the thread to Translation.
To be honest, though, I'd much rather post original English samples to Wikipedia (with permission, of course!). So poets . . . get crackin'! Snel!
* * *
Translated from
http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snelsonnet :
Snelsonnet
The snelsonnet ("quick sonnet") is a relatively new verse form, first developed in Holland. The name, and the formal criteria that a snelsonnet must satisfy, were first conceived by Paul Vinken of Amsterdam. However, the sudden, and ever-growing boom in snelsonnet composition in the early years of the 21st century is perhaps most attributable to the fact that Driek van Wissen, who became Poet Laureate of Holland in 2005, has made outstanding use of the form in his work.
Formal Criteria
To be a snelsonnet, a poem must satisfy the following criteria:
* It always consists of a quatrain (four lines) followed by a couplet (two lines)
* Metrically, it uses iambic pentameter (five "feet" of alternating unstressed and stressed syllables per line)
* The quatrain uses an "envelope" (A-B-B-A) rhyme scheme
* The lines of the couplet rhyme with each other (C-C), but never with either of the rhymes used in the quatrain
* There is a "fall" or "turn" after the end of the quatrain, such that the couplet is connected to the quatrain in an oblique or "relativized" way.
Examples
Two examples of snelsonnets on current topics from the hand of the Poet Laureate; the first on the possible imminent extinction of the polar bear, dated 7 May, 2006:
To Thaw and to Thaw
It’s looking bad for poor old polar bear:
for if the ice cap at the North Pole thaws
he’ll have no place to place his giant paws--
no ice, no floes, no cool repose, nowhere.
The best thing to be done, I say, is seize him,
that last surviving polar bear--then freeze him.
and this from 23 March 2006, on the news that the maker of "Negrokisses" (a chocolate-covered marshmallow candy) was going to change the name on its product packaging to the more politically correct "Kisses":
The Last Kiss
Is negro kissing negress such a sin?
So blackened here that now it should appear
that Negrokisses soon must disappear
from Holland’s shelves, though sweet and white within?
Well so it is, and I must seek new goodies;
but lucky me, look here, I’ve found Yehoodies!
* * *
Literal, line-by-line translations of van Wissen poems:
Dooien en dooien
to thaw and to thaw
Het is met onze ijsbeer slecht gesteld:
it is with our icebear bad become
De ondergang schijnt ook hem te bedreigen
the downfall appears also him to threaten
Daar hij geen poot meer aan de grond kan krijgen
for he no foot more on the ground can place
Wanneer de ijskap van de Noordpool smelt.
when the icecap of the North Pole melts.
Het beste is om er maar voor te kiezen
the best is about him* rather for* to choose (ervoor = "for him"; voor is used as a postposition here)
De allerlaatste ijsbeer in te vriezen.
the very-last icebear in* to freeze* (invriezen = "to freeze in," i.e., "refrigerate")
*
De laatste zoen
the last kiss
De zoen van negers en van negerinnen
the kiss of negroes and of negresses
Is hier zo zwart gemaakt dat naar het schijnt
is here so black become that soon it seems
De negerzoen uit Nederland verdwijnt
the Negrokiss out [of] Netherlands disappears
Al is zo’n zoen wel lekker wit van binnen.
though [it] is such a kiss, as sweet [as] white from [with]in.
Dus moet ik maar iets anders lekkers zoeken.
thus must I rather something other sweet [to] seek
Gelukkig viel mijn oog op jodenkoeken.
luckily fell my eye on Jews-cookies.
Editing back, 2 August: Fixed the broken link to Dutch Wikipedia. My apologies to anyone who sought and did not find. The page really does exist . . . and now the link works too!
[This message has been edited by Stephen Collington (edited August 02, 2008).]
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