I’ve always been a reader and a writer, and have loved all sorts of writing, stories, non-fiction work, dramatic pieces, poetry – I just love words! My degree was in English, history and French, which meant I read French works too, and read widely. The one thing which somehow passed me by and I can’t explain it – was my knowledge of the rules and conventions of grammar, and the technical terms to apply to language. All I can think was that when I went to secondary school there’d been a break in the traditions of English language teaching and we weren’t taught the parts of speech and grammar. Mostly this hasn’t made much difference to me, but every so often something crops up and not only do I think “what the heck does that mean?” but I feel baffled by it.
Such an occasion occurred recently when I began to read the chosen book for my reading group, “What We Can Know” by Ian McEwan. It was on page 12, 4% into the book and I came across this about a poem by a renowned poet,Francis Blundy :
“...it was what the poem by its non-existence had become: a repository of dreams, of tortured nostalgia, futile retrospective anger and a focus of unhinged reverence. Blundy’s choice of form, it was said, told all. A corona was an ornate anachronism in the twenty-first century.”
“An ornate anachronism” described a corona, but what was meant by corona? Obviously I understood it was a poetic form, and I know that a corona is a crown or a ring of light – like the sun has a corona, but in connection with a poem or a poetic form? Hmmm… I shouldn’t be so cocky about my stand as an expert in English. So, to Wikipedia:
A crown of sonnets or sonnet corona is a sequence of sonnets, usually addressed to one person, and/or concerned with a single theme. Each of the sonnets explores one aspect of the theme, and is linked to the preceding and succeeding sonnets by repeating the final line of the preceding sonnet as its first line. The first line of the first sonnet is repeated as the final line of the final sonnet, thereby bringing the sequence to a close.
I found this idea intriguing – and as I continue to read McEwan’s book I’m sure I will learn much more about it, and I think it might very well be of significance. Now I am absolutely positive I could never write a corona, not in verse, but would it be possible to write a prose version? Could a story be written as a corona? I return to Wikipedia.
It all sounds incredibly complicated, as if a poet has to wrestle not only with his own thoughts, images and content, but has to manipulate everything into this complicated form. I definitely need to find out more, and not just read the Wikipedia entry closely and thoughtfully, but find some other and more examples and information.
Meanwhile, reading group beckons, our get together draws ever near and I must set to with McEwan’s story, because he might, of course, explain more about the crown of sonnets!
PS I am of an age where I first came across Corona was the garishly coloured fizzy drinks produced by the Corona Soft Drinks Company. Mum never let us have any, probably because it was too expensive, but I always wishfully watched other mums by bottles of it from the Corona man who came round on a float like the milkman. It’s also struck me that most people today when asking for a Corona will mean a Mexican beer, rather than ultra sweet fizzy fruit drink!
Lois Elsden 