Valentines Day Poem

Hello everyone! Poetry is not something which I have involved myself with at all on this platform (besides setting it of course). I think the first (and last) time I wrote a poem and posted it here was 9th grade. However, this year I have found myself attempting to write poetry. At the start of the new year, I got my beautiful girlfriend and I matching poetry topic journals. The way this works is that each page lists a topic and potential words, and you have at it (writing your own poem). When I write more poetry, perhaps I will post some of them here, but today's post is focused on a poem I wrote for Valentines day themed on Love. It is my first attempt at writing a Shakespearean Sonnet. So, before I say anything else, here is the poem:

My beautiful girlfriend and me

First Love

My Love has never meant so much to me;
Its meaning was confined to all I knew.
I’d known True Friends; I’d known Sweet Family,
But definition came through knowing You.

The Time we’ve shared has been beyond my hopes;
Your Beauty is above what I could dream,
And so Our Love has gone beyond the scope
Of all I could expect True Love to mean.

But time is slowly mocking our Sweet Love,
And circumstance is teasing You and I.
Such Love could not be meant to live above
The Dreams that You must follow off awry.

Whatever fate may plan, or future bring,
Your Love means more to me than anything.

Under the hood

For those of you who are unaware of how a Sonnet works, I will list some of what I learned here.

Rhythm

• Each line must utilize Iambic Pentameter (you can break this rhythm in order to highlight an idea, but most lines should be Iambic Pentameter), or five groups iambs. A single iamb is comprised of two syllables in which the first is not stressed and the second is stressed.
  Iamb = duh DUH
  Iambic Pentameter = duh DUH duh DUH duh DUH duh DUH duh DUH

Structure

• There should be 3 quatrains and what is called a heroic couplet at the end. A quatrain is a stanza consisting of 4 lines, and a heroic couplet is 2 iambic pentameter lines which rhyme.

• According to the website I found, each of the quatrains has a different purpose.

The first quatrain functions as an exposition, and introduces the subject of the sonnet. In this case, the subject is the meaning of love.

The second quatrain further develops and expands the subject of the poem.

The third quatrain introduces conflict. In this case, I discussed the idea of college approaching (because it is).

The heroic couplet serves the purpose of resolving the conflict. In this case, I made the point that even if college is approaching, I am still thankful for love.

• The overall rhyme scheme should be ABAB CDCD EFEF GG in correlation with each of the quatrains and the heroic couplet.

Capital Letters

In the poem, I capitalized the first letter of each line (as is customary), but I also capitalized anything which relates to love, or anything which I love.

Bonus Poem

If you wish to read a really great Sonnet, I would highly recommend Frost's Never Again Would Birds' Song Be the Same. I have tried to set it several times, and it is just too perfect to set. No music can match the beauty of Frost's words.

Conclusion

Thanks for reading this! I know it is short, but the point of the article is the poem, and that is 14 lines long. I wouldn't say it is the most interesting thing ever written, and there is definitely room for improvement. But it illustrates what I am thankful for today, and it is a step in my journey to becoming a master poet (SARCASM). Please remember that feedback is always appreciated! I hope you enjoyed the poem, and I hope to see you next time!

(Note) In order to encourage meaningful feedback on the platform, I will check comment trails of users who leave superficial comments (ie "Awesome post," or "Upvoted.") and will mute any users who exhibit a pattern of leaving "spammy" comments.