Twenty Five Sonnets
By Justin Hibbard
Price $24.95
Author's Introduction
Writing
these twenty-five sonnets began as a homework assignment during my senior year of high
school. As we studied Shakespeare and
Elizabethan literature, we were challenged to confine our thoughts to iambic pentameter
with a specific fourteen-line rhyme scheme that defines this type of sonnet for what it
is. After writing my first sonnet as a
homework assignment, I fell in love with the idea of challenging myself to persistently
write in this form.
Throughout college, I continued writing these sonnets. One of my spots of inspiration came in the
classroom. Amidst boring lectures, I found
myself scribbling words on the margins of my class notes, counting the rhythms until I had
a complete thought, a complete meter, and a complete sonnet.
One of my
professors who read the words contained in these pages challenged my sense of style. In an era where the emphasis is on function rather
than form and where popular poetry has ignored meters and rhymes altogether, my words
would find little audience he said. Perhaps
it won’t, but if you’re reading this, well, then it obviously has found someone. As one whom I believe to be very private,
especially about my emotion, I never meant to publish anything. Originally, these twenty-five sonnets were a gift
to my wife on Valentine’s Day of 2002. However another professor challenged me,
saying, “If nobody sees a painting, then can we still say it’s art?” I still don’t know the answer to that, but my
wife’s Christmas gift to me was to submit these sonnets for publication. So here I submit to you my thoughts, my words, my
style – my version of what a great writer did so many centuries ago.
As you read this,
let me challenge you not to just fly through it. This
is not just about creative functions such as tortured syntax, alliteration, rhyme, and
meter. Every poet is attempting to say
something amidst every stylistic function, every syllable, every word. These sonnets do not just tell you my thoughts in
a five hundred year old style, but as I hope you will discover, this poetry connects me to
former writers – writers such as Donne, Herbert, Milton, and of course Shakespeare. Just as the Renaissance writers alluded to other
past and contemporary authors, so do I. In
that sense, this poetry isn’t just poetry, but it becomes a puzzle or a riddle. I hope that after you finish reading this, you
won’t just tell me, “I read your sonnets.”
I hope you will say, “I figured out what you were trying to say.” Perhaps that is the real reason I wrote these
sonnets to begin with. It was a way for me to
express what was weighing on my heart, but those who would take the time and effort to
study, investigate, and discern what I was saying would be the only ones who would ever
understand my emotions.
Justin Hibbard
February 2005
About the Author
Justin Hibbard lives in Millersville, Maryland, with his wife Karlene and his dog Aslan. He serves as the Worship Pastor of New Hope Chapel.
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ISBN: 0-9765444-1-5
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