Task 30

Yes. You guessed it. It's a sonnet this week.

But before you panic, please hear me out, and make sure you have done the following things BEFORE you begin to attempt this week's task:

1. Re-read your attempt at Task 29. Make sure you read it ALOUD - to someone else if at all possible. One of the moderators - Maria - had a fantastic tip as to how to do this, so check out the comment's on NIKA's attempt to find out what she suggests.
2. Now read each COMMENT that has been written about your attempt. These comments are incredibly detailed, and so they deserve to be read AGAIN AND AGAIN. They are literally dripping with nuggets of poetic advice which will make your poetry a million times better in just a few steps. But only if you DO WHAT THEY SAY.
3. Go back to your attempt and, on a piece of blank paper, try to rework it into a response which is as near to PERFECT as you can imagine. You could then just file that away somewhere or, if you wanted, you could bring it to me in school and I will tell you how close you have got.
4. Now have a look a the attempts from eternity_forever, Angel_K and shiningstar. These are not the only successful attempts by any means, but, if you read the comments as well, these should teach you some important lessons about how to make your own poetry better and better still.
5. Choose THREE other students on whose work YOU want to comment yourself. And try to make sure your comments are as useful and constructive as possible - suggesting at least one thing you LOVED and one thing you thought should be CHANGED. And be sparing with your textspeak - for old people like me! :)
6. If you are still unclear about how to write IAMBIC PENTAMETERS, it is up to you to book half an hour with me this week to go through it again. Email me or find me in school and we can easily fix up a mutually convenient time. If you don't do this, I will assume you are 100% clear on how to construct your iambic pentameters, and, therefore, ready to attempt Task 30.

Only when you have completed ALL of the above SIX steps should you begin Task 30.

Right. Task 30 here we come...

Please write a sonnet about an emotion (i.e. anger, disappointment, love, happiness etc.) of your choice. Please use your chosen emotion as the title of your poem (and your post).

I would like you to follow the following rules:

1. Your sonnet should consist of 14 lines only.
2. Each line should be written in iambic pentameter - i.e. 5 iambic (dee-DUM) feet.
3. You should make free and deliberate use of end-stopped lines AND enjambement/caesura as and when you think each is appropriate and effective.
4. Your poem should rhyme as follows: ababcdcdefefgg. Or, in other words, Lines 1 and 3 should rhyme, as should Lines 2 and 4, Lines 5 and 7, Lines 6 and 8 etc. And Lines 13 and 14 should rhyme with each other.
5. N.B. If you want to make it even more difficult, you could try dividing your sonnet thematically into a first OCTAVE (i.e. 8 lines) and a second SESTET (i.e. 6 lines), with a slight change of theme/mood/topic after Line 8. Only attempt this if you want to add that extra bit of challenge.

Please make sure that you:

1. Use what you (and other students) have learnt from Task 29 to make sure you do not make any of the same mistakes again.
2. Check your work CAREFULLY for any careless errors or typos. It could come across as a little arrogant or rude to expect the moderators to check work you have not even checked yourself!
3. Make sure you meet the deadline. I am giving you advance warning now that any of you who fail to do so will get only one more chance before expulsion from the workshop. (And two of you have already had your final warning, and so had better be especially careful.)

Your task is due by midnight on Saturday 25th October 2008.

MY ATTEMPT will follow later this weekend.

Good luck - and have fun!