The east had its own charm or fine deep blue, and its own modest gem, a casino and solitary star..." ~ Jane Eyre

Connie is reading poetry in English class for the next few weeks, so I decided to take advantage of that delicious fact and indulge in some creative writing with her yesterday during our tutor session.

I taught Connie the Shakespearean Sonnet. We went over iambs, rhyme scheme, the couplet, and even did a few rounds of tapping the table to get the rhythm of iambic pentameter into her head. Within a half hour of reading my favorite sonnets (see sonnet 65 sometime and get back to me; its my absolute favorite), I decided to tap into her creative writing skills...

I instructed her to pick her favorite painting. She chose Van Gogh's "Starry Night." I then told her that she has to write a sonnet based on the image of the painting.

She and I worked for over an hour on our sonnets (she asked me to write one as well). She is a talented writer, but even she got frustrated about writing "inside the box." My response to her frustration was simple: "Now do you understand why Shakespeare is a GENIUS?"

Her sonnet is unfinished at the moment, but I told her to finish it for next week's session.

Here is mine...

Pearls of Light by Amy K. (a Shakespearean sonnet based on Vincent Van Gogh's "Starry Night")

In the sky I see beside the moon
the stars which are the other suns in skies.
Far away in other worlds at noon
they shine throughout the day after they rise.
I sit alone up on the hill and gaze.
The tree beside me juts into the night.
It stretches out its bark as if to raise
its admiration to these pearls which light
the grass blades of another man's pasture.
I long to know if this man is like me,
a man who worries time will go faster
than he is able to live and be free
in a world that oppresses his mind
and leaves such simple beauties hard to find.