How Each Poet Utilises the Sonnet
Jon Stallworthy's idea that ‘the sonnet provides imagination not with a prison but with a theatre’ is one that is encompassed in Wordsworth's ‘Nuns Fret not at their Convent’s Narrow Room’ and Vikram Seth's ‘From the Golden Gate' (sonnet 5.3). Wordsworth explores this idea by using metaphors of people at work in his poetry; as people find comfort in the boundaries of their daily occupations, so he finds ‘solace’ in the strict restrictions of the sonnet form.
Similarly, Seth’s sonnet also appreciates the positive and negative elements that the form offers in the same ironic self-referential manner that Wordsworth employs. Furthermore, although the poems’ simultaneous subversion and adherence to the form in different literary periods is common, due to obvious contextual contrasts, there are numerous details that contradict not only each other, but also the traditional sonnet form. The poems seem like confident appraisals of their own form, but an undertone of self-justification appears to create similar certain tensions within each sonnet.
An Attack on the 'Out-Dated'Sonnet?
‘Nuns Fret not at their Convent’s Narrow Room’ is an early 19th-century poem that utilises rooms as metaphors for the poetic structures of the sonnet; the contentment of the people within the rooms could possibly indicate his own contentment in using the sonnet form. However, there does appear to be contradiction with this pleasure in these ‘rooms’; the nun’s ‘narrow room’ and hermit's ‘cells’ hold negative connotations of uncomfortable and unpleasant restriction and possess a sense of confinement and claustrophobia.
Also, the repetition of ‘prison’ in the poem highlights more starkly this same idea of confinement. This could suggest that although Wordsworth is in praise of the sonnet, he too finds it limiting; its ‘scanty plot of ground’ is a challenge. Furthermore, his reference to the stoical and solitary figures of ‘nuns and hermits’ could reveal his feelings that the sonnet is a classic form but somewhat outdated and unfashionable.
Wordsworth's Justification of the Sonnet?
He appears to appreciate the form’s rigidity but also wishes to demonstrate its benefits. This is explored when he describes that as ‘bees [that] soar for bloom high as the highest peak of Furness-fells.’ They are just as content to reside within the small spaces of ‘foxglove bells.’
This could be a reference to the fact that as a poet, Wordsworth enjoys both the relative freedom of blank verse or ballad form, for example, as well as the strict rules of the sonnet. At the time this poem was written, Wordsworth had begun experimenting with the form to explore his political stance during the French Revolution.
His sonnets mimic the style of Milton, who Furniss and Bath state ‘had a reputation as a champion of English liberty in the revolutionary and religious struggles of the 17th century,’ so one could insinuate a particular affinity Wordsworth felt with Milton in his use of sonnets. This could perhaps suggest another deeper political meaning to Wordsworth’s theme of ‘liberty’ within restraint.
A 20th-Century Resurrection of the Sonnet
Seth, a poet in the 1980s, returned to the form after a period of disregard for the sonnet. However, his reasons were not political but a reaction to the popular use of free verse. He interrogates the form itself, which subverts the traditional use of interrogatives within sonnets as he asks, ‘How do I justify this stanza?’
Another typical trait of the sonnet is justification of the speaker’s ‘love’ for the subject. However, in this case, the subject is the form itself, and like Wordsworth, Seth feels the need to ‘justify’ his use of the sonnet to the reader.
Furthermore, in comparison to ‘Nuns Fret’ insinuation that the sonnet must be appreciated but updated, Seth’s lexical set of antiquity compounds these feelings. His muse is ‘wrinkled,’ the metaphorical ‘bread molds’ that refer to the rigid structure of the sonnet are ‘dusty,’ and the ‘loaves’ are poems that will go ‘stale’ if he attempts to mimic the old-fashioned sonnets in the 20th-century world. It appears to be a gentle attack on previous stiff and formal use of the sonnet.
The Modern Sonnet?
In contrast to ‘Nuns Fret’ where the Volta appears in the expected position of line 8, the Volta appears late in ‘The Golden Gate’ (line 10), hinting at a requirement to overturn the clichés of the sonnet and modernise it somewhat. Additionally, he utilises the Pushkin sonnet instead of a traditional form, which has an intricate rhyme scheme and is viewed as complex.
Furthermore, his reference to ‘the brave bakery of Reagan’ places the sonnet in a specific timeframe that is quite different from the era of Wordsworth. Finally, unlike the leisurely iambic pentameter of Wordsworth’s sonnet, Seth employs tetrameter which speeds up the narrative and once again places the poem firmly in the high-paced 20th century.
Conclusion
Even though both poets are writing at different periods and use different forms of the sonnet, the content is remarkably similar. The conflict they feel at using the sonnet at times where it is not seen as ‘fashionable’ is apparent through their justifications.
However, they also both equally criticise the form, labelling it old fashioned and outdated. This demonstrates a further contradiction as both are imitating the styles of poets who wrote centuries before them. The sonnet is timeless and versatile, can be adapted, interrogated and moulded by poets for their own use, and this is something Wordsworth and Seth were attempting to portray in their ‘modern’ sonnets.
Sources
- Jon Stallworthy, Versification, in The Norton Anthology of Poetry 5th edn, ed. Margaret Fergusson, Mary Jo Salter and Jon Stallworthy (New York: Norton, 2005), p.2042.
- William Wordsworth, 'Nuns Fret Not at their Narrow Rooms', in The Norton Anthology of Poetry 5th edn, p. 796.
- Tom Furniss and Michael Bath, Reading Poetry: An Introduction 2nd edn (Harlow: Pearson Education Ltd, 2007), p.377.
- Vikram Seth, from 'The Golden Gate (5.3)', in The Norton Anthology of Poetry 5th edn, p. 1995.
Jenny John - I am currently studying English Literature at Cardiff University, and have just finished my first year. I am of course interested in ...
