Curt Curtal Sonnet Corona

Curt Curtal Sonnet Corona  Based on Sonnet Corona by Nick Montfort  December 2020

Gerard Manley Hopkins invented the curtal sonnet, a 3/4 abbreviation of the Petrarchan sonnet in which each section of the form is proportionately shortened: the octave becomes a sestet, the sestet a quatrain with an extra tail.

In March 2020, at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Nick Montfort published “Sonnet Corona,” a tiny program that can generate a crown of 3^14 or 4,782,969 potential sonnets. Its 14 monometer lines evoke the enclosure and uncertainty of the early lockdown. “Curt Curtal Sonnet Corona” utilizes Montfort’s code to generate 4^11 or 4,194,304 curtal, 11-line sonnets with 4 variables per line. The abbreviated form felt appropriate to my feelings about this moment at the end of a very difficult year, but one illuminated by hope, as my son, due in January 2021, decided he couldn’t wait and joined our family in the final weeks of December. "Curt Curtal Sonnet Corona" is dedicated to Dorothea and Dashiell. The generator is available at amaranthborsuk.com/curtalcorona.

Sample poems:

1.  we ask  in mind  one shot  a dash  deadlines  for naught

so long  we sigh  fine wrought  our hope—  starbright . starbrought

2.  we thrash  resigned  uncaught  held fast  fault lines  drawn taut

so long  entwined  one thought  keep on—  our light . our lot

3.  we thrash  still blind  a dot  at last  headlines  in knots

headstrong  we sigh  unknot  our hope—  forthright . forethought

4.  we ask  resigned  a dot  a dash  deadlines  drawn taut

heartstrung  we sigh  unknot  new song—  our light . our lot

(Source: Author's abstract)