The Roseate Sonnet: An Experience in Learning the Art of Poetry (with a CONTEST & PRIZES!)

The Roseate Sonnet as a form was created by Dr. A.V. Koshy in December 2012.  He also wrote the first one. It is a South Indian variation on the Italian or English versions of the same.

“The Rose was chosen as an inspiration because of its enduring nature as a symbol in literature worldwide.”

“The rules are as follows: the sonnet must have two quatrains first, followed by a couplet and then by a last quatrain that starts the first line with an R, the second with an O, the third with an S and the fourth with an E to form an acrostic that reads ‘ROSE.’ The form has no other constraints like rhyme or metre or blank verse having to be used, unlike its earlier forms or variants. There is no fixed syllabic count for the lines. It was inspired by a profile picture of a rose on a poet-friend Gopali C Ghosh’s Facebook, again revealing its post-modern media-driven antecedents, and parallels such new experiments in form as the ones by Mutiu Olawuyi (9/11 poetry) and Bina Biswas (five liners). It also is a brief nod in the direction of Sonnet Mondal‘s experimental caudate sonnet, in its choice of name.

The Rose was chosen as an inspiration because of its enduring nature as a symbol in literature worldwide. Its presence in the sonnet can be seen as a random conjunction in keeping with post modernism that both gives it order and brings in an element of chaos,  whether  love, beauty, religiosity, spirituality, divinity, mysticism, sexuality or sensuality is the  subject matter of the sonnet itself.”

The first Roseate sonnet was written by Dr. A.V. Koshy

While the first Roseate sonnet was written by Dr. A.V. Koshy, the second one was created by Sreepriya Balakrishnan. Both of them are from Kerala, in south India, thus strengthening the South Indian link. More have been written and are in the offing from other poets.

Sreepriya’s sonnet is given here as an example as the second one in history on this form. (The first one by Dr Koshy is under review for publication. Koshy’s example has appeared in Facebook and Google plus, but not in an official form yet.)

“Deep may be the causes of revolt
but a rebel is always on the peripheral.
Blessed is he who cares not for what he rebels.
Time holds him up ever in the peripheral.

Look at that boy, up early in the morn
wanting to face god in the snowy dawn
trekking up the hill in earnest revenge
to the nearest temple to offer the rage.

As he neared the seat of a god, the enemy looked so sparse and stubby.
Finding yet another rage was easier than holding up all the restraints.

Racking over little rebellions
Ordering the chaos for the center
Soothing himself into the contours
End is where the rebel has to stay.”

Rhyme used in roseate sonnets is incidental, not a pre-requisite.

The following Roseate Sonnet is by Dr. Ampat Koshy that is an acrostic throughout and rhymes. He tampers in the number of lines in the stanzas of his own form to get what he wants which shows the sonnet is more about overall effect than exact obeying of its norms though the line count and the acrostic remain of paramount importance.

You used to glow with an inner fire
Ornate profile, a painting or statue
Umber skin that drove mad with desire

Far from the crowd, for hours you would woo –
Endearingly curious, fearing & hating
Love and its lure, lust and its tunes
Lest, if done, it proved to your undoing…

After the nights became bereft of runes
Nasturtium, you blossomed and bloomed
Donned your conquest, a new country ruled

Rare, such near-perfection, two souls almost meeting
On a voyage that had in opposite directions been heading
Slowly drowning now in a becalmed sea
Entreating each other: Can this, love, ever be?!

This unique and beautiful poetic form, loved by many poets now in the Rejected Stuff poetry and literature group in Facebook, has inspired  a considerable number of roseate sonnets, among which some are truly memorable. In fact, more than thirty roseate sonnets have already been written and posted in the group, which is quite noteworthy and gives us an idea how the creative seeds of poetry germinate and blossom into highly fructifying ones.

Among the poems, Sunila Kamal’s and Ananya Chatterjee’s were considered  outstanding ones whose sonnets won due to voting in a free and informal contest held in Rejected Stuff.

Read Sunila’s roseate sonnet here below by clicking on its title:

God’s Love is Rose

Read Ananya’s roseate sonnet:

Half-Read

As for myself, I have been inspired to create a narrative poem out of this beautiful poetic form. In the poem, I have tried to depict the story of a little girl whom I had seen through the window of a taxi I was traveling in, during a rainy night near the Esplanade area in Kolkata, India. The image haunted me for quite a while and then I gave shape to it.

The ‘inventor’ of this new form, Dr Koshy A V, is an established author and writer who is a poet, critic, short story writer, editor and artist. He has a doctorate in Samuel Beckett’s Poems in English from the University of Kerala. He has published, co-authored or edited, compile and anthologized many books including  a book called A Treatise on Poetry for Beginners (Speak Up Publishing)/ Art of Poetry (Authorspress), and THE SIGNIFICANT ANTHOLOGY with Reena Prasad and  Michele Baron and has several published research papers and articles to his credit. He has also published poems in different parts of the world in poetry journals, magazines, e-zines and anthologies.

A poem of his that appeared in the e-zine The Camel Saloon called ‘A Shayari of Sorts’ was nominated for the Pushcart Prize for Poetry in USA for 2012. He has collaborated and is collaborating thrice with Bina Biswas. Dr Koshy also runs with his wife Anna Gabriel an NGO for autism, has three children, and is presently teaching English language and literature as an assistant Professor in Jazan University, KSA. He has an autistic son and administers Rejected Stuff and has instituted an international prize for writing and literature in his name won by Dr Santosh Bakaya and Pramila Khadun so far.

More poems to read

Love Story
The Mountain Refrains
‘Parting’ and ‘Yearning’ – Two Poems

About the Author

Lopamudra Banerjee ( 70 Posts)

Lopamudra (Lopa) Banerjee is an author, editor, poet and writing instructor staying in Dallas, Texas with her family, but originally from Kolkata, India. She has a Masters in English with thesis in Creative Nonfiction from University of Nebraska and also Masters in English from University of Calcutta, India. Apart from writing and editing some critically acclaimed books and being awarded with the Reuel International Prize for Poetry (2017) and for Translation (2016), she has dabbled in all genres of writing, from journalism and content writing to academic essays and fiction/poetry. She has been interviewed in various e-zines, literary blogs and also at TV (Kolkata) and at radio stations in Dallas, Texas. Very recently, she has been part of the upcoming short film 'Kolkata Cocktail', a docu-feature based on poetry, but her love for writing feature stories go back to her journalism days when she interviewed people from all walks of life and wrote essays and articles based on them. She loves performing poetry as spoken words art and has performed in various forums in India and USA.
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