Wangiwriter's Blog

A to Z Challenge – U is for Unconditional Love

This poem arose from a poetry writing prompt, and I decided to write it as a Shakespearean sonnet.

This form, also called the English sonnet, has the simplest and most flexible pattern of all sonnets. It consists of three quatrains of alternating rhyme and ends with a rhyming couplet:

a b a b c d c d e f e f g g

Each quatrain develops a specific idea, but one closely related to the ideas in the other quatrains. The volta, or ‘punchline’ is often in the final couplet.

The basic meter of all sonnets in English is iambic pentameter, that is, ten syllables per line, with the emphasis on every second syllable.

Have you ever tried to write a sonnet?

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An Old Rag Doll

– a sonnet –

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Forlorn, it lies upon the rubbish pile

A tattered relic of a bygone day.

What joy this doll brought to a lonely child

How many happy hours spent in play?

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Recipient, this doll, of secrets shared

A trusted confidant who would not tell

Her owner’s fears and dreams as they were bared

Not question motives nor her spirit quell.

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But life goes on, and children quickly grow

To girls who think that love will never end.

But those that she allows her heart to know

Are not as faithful as that ragged friend.

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If ‘tis unconditional love desired,

A rag doll’s noble heart is what’s required.

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(c)   Linda Visman