Sonnets

Below are a collection of sonnets written by the Literature classes

In literature, students are exploring the notion of canon literature and what gives text literary merit. We began this exploration by read and discussing some of Shakespeare's sonnets and had a go at writing our own.

Students were welcome to write in either the Shakespearean or Petrarchan sonnet structure.

Sonnet: Old English


Doth mine feelings not catch brashly alight

When mine gaze doest venture upon thy face

Hearts behave not as mine hast; burning bright

While thee dance through mine mind in all thy grace


I shall doth aught for thee mine own loveth

Endure thy afflictions with all mine own might

Risk any harm to me 'or did hurt thereof

Defend thee from all conspicuous slights


There is nothing of thee I adore not

Thy glassy eyes yond reflect the whole world

I worship thy fair taut skin from mine core

And hollow cheekbones carved of wood and burled


I hast an overwhelming sense of dread

For I cannot halt the feeling you’re dead


Lily Hannen

Impossibility


Your eyes are as blue as the deepest sea,

Soft skin as pale as the finest moonlight,

Your beauty and your love has captured me.

Feathered wings spreading open, taking flight,

How far above the rest of us you soar,

So out of reach of my desperate grasp,

But you are all that I have to adore,

Please stay - lest death divide - within my clasp.

Too ashamed to make you walk among us,

Mere mortals who don't deserve you at all,

I still wish to stay by your side and thus,

I've kept you on some kind of pedestal.

So when I hear you say you love me too,

I desperately want to believe you.


  • Kasinda Johnston

Reminiscing


I wish I could say I loved you, my dear,

When you said those three words aloud,

I wish I didn’t tense with fear,

Dread rolling through me like clouds.

I wish I smiled something genuine,

Squeezed your shoulder and laughed,

I wish I didn’t start what I knew I’d ruin,

Sitting here thinking on the past.

I really wish there was some switch to flip,

Some buttons that made the walls come down,

I wish you hadn’t abandoned ship,

Leaving me an empty ghost town.


But part of me knows, despite my wishing,

I didn’t really love you, I’m just reminiscing.


  • Laura Rippon

I hate you, don’t leave me


My hate is a passion fuelled by fire.

Like hot coals scorching the back of my throat.

Every cell in my body screams liar;

From every cruel, cunning word you would gloat.

Every hour and minute spent in bane.

Spite so potent I am forcibly sick.

A love I no longer wish to maintain.

Speaking as a child, your head so thick.

And yet, I crave your very existence.

Like am I as cattle drawn to water

I love you so with little resistance.

Compelled to be, alike lamb to slaughter.

I am whole, I am me when I have you.

From all the fish in the sea, I know who.


  • Anonymous

Ode to the Crow


My eerie crow, you inspire me to write.

I hate the way you linger, stare and soar,

Invading my mind day and through the night,

Always dreaming about the brutal war.


Let me compare you to a cool, stark moon

You are more hungry, menacing and dark.

Blue sun heats the mortal creatures of June,

And summertime has the strange ripple mark.


How do I hate you? Let me count the ways.

I hate your keen eyes, feathers and sharp claws.

Thinking of your black feathers fills my days.

My hate for you is the dark applause.


Now I must away with a benchmark heart,

Remember my dark words whilst we're apart.


  • Fab Tobler

What is Shakespeare if not a work of art?

He must have captured my eternal love.

For he stills the rapid beating of my heart.

His words are so vibrant I could not have enough.


The words he weaves are tapestries of thought.

A hero of the people in his time.

Giving hope to all no matter their lot.

Being remembered for a simple rhyme


Building a language of his own invent

He reformed the english language

And while we may not know of his intent.

For the most part we are not to judge


But even looking at him in the whole

He bores students who want him in a hole.


  • Athena Paton

For you, you are certainly a rare creature;

In life there is no one else quite like you.

The origin of life comes from that of a preacher.

You may provide everything, but you are certainly a view.


You light the place up like dynamite,

And fake love will never be found around here.

With those looks you give me, you set my eyes alight.

Honestly, if I think about you I would say you’ve made my year.


You set my heart on fire; you’re my idol;

You’re so special, unique, amazing, I wish you could stay.

The name you possess, your colours, your title,

Your lines, your shapes, your curves, all out on display.


Ma’am, please, this is a McDonalds. That will be $12.45.

Oh, my god, sorry. I’m just trying to survive.


  • Ella Jonklaas

Cat

Perched upon a weathered brick wall. Her eyes,

Mesmerising orbs of emerald green,

Have beheld sights of beauty and demise,

Of flourishing life and horrors unseen.

Soft whiskers grace the hollows of her cheeks,

Melting into a coat of silky grey.

In lazy circles her slender tail sweeps,

And yet, not a single hair lies astray.

Dreamlike, upon willowy limbs she glides,

Striding forward at a languorous pace.

Her padded feet have travelled all nine lives.

Her lithe frame, the picture of feline grace.

But beware, those who enter her domain,

Meet the wrath of her violent disdain.


  • Sam Lawson