This week we’re watching Il Postino so lets blog on that. Look for recurrent images that become symbols. Try to articulate what the movie says about metaphor. Consider the strange relationship between beauty and our awareness or perception of beauty. Feel free to make other observations about the film. I’m particularly fascinated by the trajectory of their relationship.
This week we’re talking about sonnets, that form which orginated on the sun-drenched hills of Sicily. For two hundred years it existed in Italy before it jumped to England.
The sonnet has an Italian and an English version. Italian is known for its 8-6 split with a volta or turn after line 8. English is 3 quatrains with a couplet at the end. Notice, please, how different a rhymed 14 lined poem can be depending on the unfolding of its argument 12-2 vs 8-6. The sonnet is dense and musical, the 8-6 version is a kind of proposal and response or call and response. The 12-2 version has more time to develop a lyrical theme and have some twist at the end, usually loud or witty or sudden.
Notice, too, that one sonnet in our bunch–Tattoo Tears–violates the form, why do you think this is.
Have a great break.