Digging into a Poem

When it comes to a poem, there are people who tell you to rip it apart. Dig deep into the lines and the words, and tell me that poem means, and tell me what it doesn't, and then I'll tell you that you're completely wrong, and we'll both be right . . . This is why I don't like poetry, but also why it can be fun. Words can have a thousand meanings, and this post will demonstrate that with a single sonnet.

1. Sonneting by Gideon Burton is a sonnet about sonnets. Further annotation and close reading of this work show that its meaning upon first read does not dissolve with additional study. Rather, closely studying this work makes its point clearer.

In my first read of Sonneting, I noted that it followed perfectly the conventions of a traditional sonnet. Ten syllables per line. A unmarred rhyme scheme. A romantic tone. I didn't think anything of it at first, but after doing a closer read I found that all these things make the poem stronger in its intention. The poet's main point (as I believe it to be) is that the form of a sonnet has offered him freedom for his writing. In writing this sonnet with perfect adherence to the rules of sonnets, he demonstrates his respect for the form that has offered him freedom.

I also went back to read and took the advice to "Say Why [I] Care." Why, of all the poems available, did I choose to analyze this poem? Especially when I have no personal love myself for sonnets. The answer that I came up with is that it's not the sonnet that I appreciate, but the sentiment. I am an aspiring writer, and for some time I struggled to find a genre that suited me. But I did find it. And just like Gideon Burton now treasures sonnets, I greatly treasure the writing form that has inspired me.


2. [policy claim] Sonneting by Gideon Burton should be read as a manifestation of a personal love for a unique form of poetry.

[definition claim] Sonneting by Gideon Burton is a sonnet which comments on sonneting as a form of personal expression.

[comparison claim] Sonneting by Gideon Burton is unlike other "Ars Poetica" poems because it does not attempt to define poetry as a whole unit of literature, but chooses instead to describe how writing sonnets has had a personal impact on the poet.

[evaluation claim] Sonneting by Gideon Burton is a cleverly written poem which demonstrates in its very existence the power of a sonnet.

[causal claim] Sonneting by Gideon Burton is the result of a wandering writer who found exactly what they were looking for in the rules and rigid formation of sonnets.