An Italian Sonnet

Hannes Kilian, 1953

On a Night of Snow

Cat, if you go outdoors, you must walk in the snow.

You will come back with little white shoes on your feet,

little white shoes of snow that have heels of sleet.

Stay by the fire, my Cat.  Lie still, do not go.

See how the flames are leaping and hissing low,

I will bring you a saucer of milk like a marguerite,

so white and so smooth, so spherical and so sweet -

stay with me, Cat. Outdoors the wild winds blow.

Outdoors the wild winds blow, Mistress, and dark is the night,

strange voices cry in the trees, intoning strange lore,

and more than cats move, lit by our eyes green light,

on silent feet where the meadow grasses hang hoar -

Mistress, there are portents abroad of magic and might,

and things that are yet to be done.  Open the door!

 Elizabeth Coatsworth (1893-1986)

 Italian sonnets are difficult to write.  You must conform to a particular  rhyme scheme  and still have something to say worth saying.  Writing a sonnet is like trapping yourself in a puzzle box and emerging with hair coiffed and pearls straight.  (This is another reason  to praise Shakespeare, the master of sonnets!)  

An Italian Sonnet is fourteen lines long and  divided into two stanzas.  In the octave, the first stanza, a problem is presented: the mistress does not want the cat to leave her.  Then comes what is called the volta, the turn.  In "On a Night of Snow" a complete change in point-of-view occurs.  We read the cat's response to his mistress' pleading.   The last stanza, the sestet, is were the problem is resolved, and the outcome of the poem is revealed.  This is my favorite part.  If the sonnet had been flip-flopped, I believe the mistress would have won her argument.  As it is, she yields to the will of her cat. 

With your knowledge of Italian sonnets, read Elizabeth Coatsworth's poem again.  Let it enhance your reading.  Enjoy the sonnet.  Do not forget to savor words and  delight in the music of the poem. My favorite line: "There are portents abroad of magic and might."