On the Sonnet
On the Sonnet - form Summary
Sonnet Reinvented by Craft
Keats’s "On the Sonnet" is itself a sonnet that argues for renewing the sonnet form through careful craft rather than abandoning it. Addressing constraints as fetters, he urges poets to refine sound, metre and diction—be "misers of sound and syllable"—so the Muse, if bound, will be adorned by her own garlands. The poem is a metapoetic defence of innovation within a traditional form.
Read Complete AnalysesIf by dull rhymes our English must be chain’d, And, like Andromeda, the Sonnet sweet Fetter’d, in spite of pained loveliness; Let us find out, if we must be constrain’d, Sandals more interwoven and complete To fit the naked foot of poesy; Let us inspect the lyre, and weigh the stress Of every chord, and see what may be gain’d By ear industrious, and attention meet: Misers of sound and syllable, no less Than Midas of his coinage, let us be Jealous of dead leaves in the bay wreath crown; So, if we may not let the Muse be free, She will be bound with garlands of her own.
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