Conquering Sonnet Mountain

Celebrating Milestones

6 truths & a conversation with my muse on her birthday

I’ll be honest, I’m not keen on Shakespeare;
his flowery language makes my head spin.
Macbeth, Tempest, As You Like It, King Lear —
I’m sorry, they are not my kind of thing.

But, Shakespeare did give us English sonnets;
fourteen lines of rhyming metrical verse
that challenge many talented poets
and make them wonder if they have been cursed.

I wrote my first sonnet early this year.
It took me ages to get it just right;
I learned that it’s worth it to persevere
and it helps keeping my end goal in sight.

Never Ever Tell Him is my milestone;
the first sonnet that I wrote on my own.

© Carolyn Hastings 2021

I’ve called this piece, Conquering Sonnet Mountain, because writing my first sonnet was tantamount to climbing a literary mountain. Planting my feathered quill at the top of sonnet mountain was exhilarating; getting there was a whole other thing!

Writing about writing my first sonnet has brought a number of truths to the surface. I’ve decided now is a good time to unpack them — or, should I say, own up to them. 😅

It’s true that I’m not a great lover of Shakespeare. It may have something to do with having grown up Shakespeare-deprived. Or it could be that I over-identify with the language-learning impaired students I’ve helped wrestle with Othello, Macbeth, Romeo & Juliet et al.

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