BEYMORLIN SONNET

The Beymorlin sonnet is a double-rhymed sonnet form requiring internal rhyme as well as end rhyme.  The internal rhyme must fall on the 2nd syllable of each line. The rhyme schemes may be Shakespearean or Petrarchan, but the two must match within any single poem. Call attention to internal rhyme with underlining, as shown in the two examples,which are taken from Encore, 1999.

ATTIC VOICES

(Note in this example that the internal and end rhymes are both Shakespearean.)

The dust explodes through morning rays of sun
And scatters like a nightworks summer night,
While rusty whispers cough, then jump and run,
And splatter into nothingness in flight.
Thick guardian webs hold tightly to the door,
But secrets beckon me to set them free.
They pardon my intrusion - as before -
When deepest love imprisoned all of me.
And there I wept. With trembling heart and hand,
I turn the brass, and seek to bind the tie.
I dare indulge the shackled ghost's command
I yearn to dream to one more lullaby.

Oh, dearest Gran!  How could my heart have known
That here, for me, is shelved your wedding gown.

Jeani M. Picklesimer, Ashland, KY


RESTORATION

(Note matching Petrarchan rhyme schemes in this second example.)

The canvas of my life is thickly spread
With layers, overpainted, while I sign,
And say each is the best I can design,
But plan another, as the words are said.
If I could mold myself of daily clay,
Destroy the armature deep at my core,
Employ a finer chisel than before
Or try new stone to carve for my display --

I would begin my tale with chapter one;
Rewrite the wasted years, erase the shame.
Defeat, despair and failure I would scorn.
I could be splendid when my work was done.
A bright new talent critics would acclaim.
How sweet, if dreams, like days, were newly born!

Dian S. Barnett, Marietta, GA


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