The sonnet structure Essays

The sonnet structure Essays The sonnet structure Paper The sonnet structure Paper Edna St. Vincent Millays I will put Chaos into 14 lines sonnet is very vague on the surface. If you dig deeper, there could be a variety of interpretations. One interpretation is that this sonnet could be about a man. Him is referred to constantly throughout the sonnet. If you go with that theory, then the sonnet would be about a relationship with the man who seems chaotic to the narrator. The I is trying desperately to make some sense of him. Her goal is to make him good (14). That is only one possible argument, which could be argued, based on textual clues. The more likely interpretation is that this sonnet is about writing a sonnet. What helps lead the reader to that conclusion is evidence from the first line: I will put Chaos into fourteen lines (1). Fourteen lines is typically the length of a sonnet, and this particular sonnet is 14 lines. Now that we know what this particular sonnet is about, what does Millay have to say about writing sonnets and how does she say it? These questions will be explored in this paper. The first step is to look at the sonnet structure itself. This is a Petrarchan sonnet and follows the typical structure for this form. There is an octave, sestet and there is a rhyming scheme. The octave follows the typical rhyming scheme of ABBAABBA. The rhyme scheme in the sestet is CDCDCD and is a variation to the typical rhyme scheme. What lips my lips have kissed, and where and why is another Millay sonnet that follows the Petrarchan form and again has the slight variation in rhyming scheme which is CDEDCE in the sestet. The octave forms the question and the goal of the sonnet while the sestet addresses the question and attempts to resolve or comment on it. The overall structure of the sonnet can be quite rigid in the point of view of the poet who has to create based on these restrictions. The poet has to come up with a question and resolution. Poets also have to come up with words that follow a particular rhyme scheme. Creating a sonnet can seem like a difficult task. This is what Millay is struggling with in the beginning of I will put Chaos into 14 lines. I will put Chaos into 14 lines can be called a sonnet based on the criteria above. The octave sets the goal of the sonnet, and the particular goal of this sonnet is to put Chaos into 14 lines (1). That is what the writer does in the octave. He escapes and flood, fire, and demon (4) are released in the next line. Chaos is finally caught in the strict confines/ Of this sweet order (5-6). At the end of the octave Chaos mingles and combines with the order. Now that the goal of the octave has been set up, the sestet can attempt to resolve the goal. The resolution is that now that Chaos and Order have intermingled, the writer can finish the sonnet. The turn in the sonnet comes in the sestet when the writer proclaims that I have him. (11). The writer has been successful in putting the Chaos into 14 lines (1). What is the Chaos that the poet mentions in the first line? The chaos is referred to as him in the second line. Him is usually a pronoun for man. This again refers to the possible interpretation in the introduction. The him brings up an image of a man and since its a woman poet, the idea of a relationship emerges. Knowing that this sonnet is about writing a sonnet, a different interpretation emerges. Him could possibly refer to a muse since they are sources of inspiration. This muse is also the cause of the Chaos. The poets muse has been released on this sonnet and ideas are starting to form. Some of her early ideas are flood, fire and demon (4). Her muse releases these chaotic elements, but they do not work within the confines of the sonnet structure. What happens next is that the Chaos is trapped by the sonnet: his adroit designs / Will strain to nothing in the strict confines / of this sweet order (4-6). His adroit designs were the flood, fire and demon (4). Those were previous ideas that now do not work because they are trapped within the confines of the sonnet structure. The structure of the sonnet is also seen as sweet order. The sonnet structure can be confining in the fact that the poet needs an octave, sestet and rhyming scheme. These sonnet elements can bring some order to the Chaos. The poet knows that she needs to utilize these elements in her sonnet. They bring some order to the Chaos of her thoughts and ideas. As mentioned previously him represents a man. So why is this pronoun used through the sonnet? The idea of him as a muse also seems erotic since it creates an image of a relationship. Him eventually becomes caught and combined with Order. Why is this relationship between Chaos and Order significant? Its important because it adds another dimension to the sonnet. It adds the image of the relationship. Keeping in mind that this is a sonnet about writing a sonnet, the relationship image adds some insight into the writer. The Chaos is her muse and the Order is the sonnet structure. The Chaos that is her muse and ideas, is the one in control at the beginning of the poem. Then the Order of the sonnet structure gains the control and the writer is about to finish the task that she set out to accomplish. The Chaos and the Order play against each other and in the end they come together to create this sonnet. Millay has accomplished what she set out to do in this sonnet. She has successfully written a sonnet about the writing process. She has written the sonnet with in the confines of the sonnet structure. She has been a slave to her muse but she has conquered it in the end. Her ideas about writing have been captured in this sonnet. She has been successful in her goal.

Sleazy and slazy

Sleazy and slazy Sleazy and slazy Sleazy and slazy By Maeve Maddox Sleezy is given in both the OED and Merriam-Webster as an alternate spelling of sleazy, but the only standard pronunciation of sleazy is /slÄ“zÄ“/, with a long e. NOTE: the pronunciation [slÄ zÄ“] can be found in dialect. It can also be documented in the works of American writers of the 19th and early 20th centuries. Presently, however, the long e pronunciation is the standard on both sides of the Atlantic. Since Id never heard sleazy pronounced slazy, I snapped to attention when I heard a character on a television program say that something done by another character was slazy. The other character repeated the word as slazy. Unfortunately, I have no way to double check, but it seemed to me that the context called for sleazy in its sense of filthy, sordid, depraved. But I would have assumed that because the program was Rules of Engagement and the speakers were the extremely sleazy characters Jeff and Russell. The word sleazy entered the language in the 1640s as a textile term with the meaning hairy, fuzzy. In the 1660s it took on the meaning flimsy, unsubstantial. The word was applied to fabrics that were lacking in body, what wed call flimsy. From there it was used to describe anything lacking in substance and eventually took on the meanings dilapidated, filthy, slatternly, squalid; sordid, depraved, disreputable, worthless. The back formation sleaze meaning person of low moral standards is a recent coinage. The earliest example given in the OED is dated 1976. Sleazebag is attested in 1981. Here are some examples of current usage: I used to have a purple paisley polyester pull-over†¦ that made me feel 70s sleazy†¦ †¦this place is in NO WAY a restaurantall you have to do is look at the fliers he puts up and you would know its a sleazy nightclub!! Sleazy Antics of ESPN Stars How do I stop a sleazy journalist from using my name? An internet search brought up numerous examples of the word slazy. A few are misspellings of sleazy, but most reflect a new coinage based on the word lazy. Here are two examples in which slazy is a misspelling for sleazy: the places where this happens are slazy, unattractive developments which encourage low-quality behaviour. these companies morph from slazy little back alley rooms to full service brightly lit and beautifully appointed offices.. Although the word slazy as a synonym for lazy has not yet made it into the major dictionaries, it is mentioned in the Urban Dictionary. One definition describes it as a combination of sleepy and lazy; another as a slack+lazy. Im not sure what its supposed to mean as the blog title of a get-rich-quick site called Slazy Cash. Perhaps just lazy. I rather like the definition given by blogger Katie Richardson whose husband created slazy as a combination of the intensifier so and lazy to give the meaning extremely lazy. Her husband used it to describe the behavior of a man who used his GPS to find a house whose location was already familiar to him. She applies it to behavior motivated by brainless over-reliance on technology. Used as a spelling or pronunciation for sleazy, slazy is a misspelling and a mispronunciation. Used as a cutesy word for the standard word lazy, slazy has little to recommend it. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Misused Words category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:7 Examples of Passive Voice (And How To Fix Them)5 Lessons for Mixing Past and Present TenseDozen: Singular or Plural?