Summer’s End
—an Alfred Dorn sonnet
It must have been a dream: the nodding boughs
Of loveliness, midsummer nights of calm,
The days festooned in floral spray finespunned;
But seasons change, and now the plaintive soughs
Of sadness rustle through the trees. What balm
Is there for coming days grown moribund?
If only you could grant that longer lease!
Instead, I hear the chevron’s honking geese,
While hummingbirds and warblers wing away.
They know that it’s the time of equinox,
And ought to take their leave without delay,
According to their inner secret clocks.
Today may feel just like a summer day,
But “Mother Nature” mocks—oh how she mocks!
Cheryl Corey is a poet who lives in Connecticut. “Three Sisters,” her trio of poems about the sisters of Fate which were first published by the Society of Classical Poets, are featured in “Gods and Monsters,” an anthology of mythological poems (MacMillan Children’s Books, 2023).
This is a beautiful Dorn sonnet. Dr. Dorn was my poetic mentor for many years, and he would have loved this example of the form he invented.
He would also have appreciated the poetic license of creating an alternate form of the past participle of the verb “to spin.” The form “spunned” (in the word “finespunned”) is the kind of liberty that Dorn occasionally took.
Your compliment means so much. For quite some time, I’ve been wanting to write a Dorn sonnet – at the very least, one – to honor Dr. Dorn. I hope to write more in the future.
A lovely sonnet, indeed! It’s my first exposure to the Dorn sonnet form, and I think it is rich with possibility. One slight suggestion: given “Mother Nature’s” role in the final line, perhaps line 7 might read, “if only she . . .”
Thank you, Rob. Try writing your own – Give it a go!
What a beautiful sonnet! Loved the final lines.
Thanks, Jeff. What I had in mind was one of those balmy, early autumn days when it’s over 80 degrees. You feel like it’s still summer, but Nature has a rude awakening in store.
This is really beautiful, Cheryl! I hadn’t seen this form before, but I love it! The last six lines are my favorite stanza; using equinox/clocks/mocks is lovely (especially the double use of “mocks” in the same line for emphasis), and the phrase “their inner secret clocks” is delightful.
Cynthia, over the past few years I’ve set a goal to challenge myself to study and compose poetry in a greater variety of forms; also, over the coming year, to incorporate greater poetic devices.
Great sonnet, Cheryl: expressive, thought-provoking.
Love the form and the poem. Thank you for writing
such a beautiful example.
Cheryl — Cynthia (above) said everything that I had planned to say, so please take this as my seconding her remarks. This poem was one fun read indeed!
Cheryl, this is fascinating to read. You treat the subject in a way that never becomes easy to define–with a surprisingly emphatic final line. I wonder too if you have one (or more than one) idea about how the Dorn sonnet form works. With the only rhyming couplet in the center, that could be a divider splitting the sonnet into two equal parts where the couplet “floats” or stands apart from both. But in “Summer’s End,” it seems to go with the latter six lines to make an “upside-down sonnet” of proportion 6/8 rather than 8/6. I have seen other Dorn examples in which the couplet seems to sink unobtrusively into the 14 lines, or where the division is clearly 3 + 3 + 2 + 3 + 3. Lots of potential.
The most common rhyme scheme for French sonnets is abbaabba cc deed, which might look a little like Dorn with that noticeable cc often serving as an extended volta. But the French form (a variation on the Italian) is actually jampacked with rhyming couplets–five of them! And it is like both the Petrarchan and like Dorn in allowing no rhyming couplet to conclude. You seem to overcome that restriction with the in-line repetition you use for conclusion. Interesting work indeed.
My rudimentary understanding of the form is that the lone rhyming couplet should serve as the volta. If only Dr. Dorn was still with us to offer his critique! As always, thank you for your analysis.
That is a wonderful sonnet, Cheryl. The chevron geese is one of several endearing images.
Thanks for the read.