This is a sonnet on the golden ratio, a relation in maths governing things like fibonacci numbers and the chromatic scale in music: fibonacci numbers also govern lots of patterns in nature. This ratio is roughly 8:5, and the ratio of the octet to the sestet in a sonnet is 8:6 - this is the starting point of the sonnet.
From C to shining C divide the line:
The radiant golden sector marks the site,
The nexus where the thirteen tones unite,
The fifth which of perfection is the sign.
The worldly truth of Fibonacci's phi?
The spirals of the nautilus will tell,
As will a pine's cones whorls, a snail's shell -
A natural riddle poets seek to scry
In vain. The sonnet does not fit the rule;
The perfect ratio appears a flaw.
(For Judas was a devil, custom preached,
And he who scoffs at twelve is called a fool.)
On reaching thirteen lines we add one more:
Perfection is desired, but overreached.
The Golden Ratio
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Sean Kinsella
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I don't completely understand the meter you referred to, but overall it reads very nicely indeed. The last 4 lines are good
"(For Judas was a devil custom preached
And he who scoffs at twelve is called a fool.)
On reaching thirteen lines we add one more:
Perfection is desired, but overreached."
BEST REGARDS
SEAN KINSELLA
I don't completely understand the meter you referred to, but overall it reads very nicely indeed. The last 4 lines are good
"(For Judas was a devil custom preached
And he who scoffs at twelve is called a fool.)
On reaching thirteen lines we add one more:
Perfection is desired, but overreached."
BEST REGARDS
SEAN KINSELLA
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twelveoone
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clever
clever
You chose
the form now
live the rules or you
could always
drop a
line
BTW 10 is not a Fibonacci number,
unless you count two fives
I did not
see it
here
clever
You chose
the form now
live the rules or you
could always
drop a
line
BTW 10 is not a Fibonacci number,
unless you count two fives
I did not
see it
here
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dillingworth
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the point of this sonnet is that it has one more line than the golden ratio demands - if the ratio of the first half to the second half of a petrarchan sonnet were 8:5, like the golden ratio, it would be perfect; but because that would make a 13 line poem (with associations with judas etc., as in the poem) we add another line to make 14, achieving and destroying perfection simultaneously.
wasn't entirely sure what you meant in your comment, twelveone, but does that make anything clearer?
wasn't entirely sure what you meant in your comment, twelveone, but does that make anything clearer?
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twelveoone
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no, I followed it perfectly
8-5-13
good play on Judas,
as far as sonnets go, I do not enjoy most of them, this one held my interest.
Partly because I am working on a "Fibonacci" poem, at the rate I write, you should see it in about 55 years (I do not know what to do about line zero, either)
As a suggestion, it is obvious to me you have talent, and like forms, your 8-5=13 sonnet idea, I think, rocks. You should do.
8-5-13
good play on Judas,
as far as sonnets go, I do not enjoy most of them, this one held my interest.
Partly because I am working on a "Fibonacci" poem, at the rate I write, you should see it in about 55 years (I do not know what to do about line zero, either)
As a suggestion, it is obvious to me you have talent, and like forms, your 8-5=13 sonnet idea, I think, rocks. You should do.
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twelveoone
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I guess if it is iambic pentameter we'll forgive the 10 count, and count the stresses instead
