Virtual Research Colloquium Boxes of Self Expression: A Crown for Empty Spaces

Author: Amanda Trout

Abstract

"Boxes of Self Expression: A Crown for Empty Spaces" is a collection of fifteen interconnected sonnets based on the theme of emptiness in a variety of interpretations. The entire form is known as a "heroic crown of sonnets," a form which differs from the more traditional crown in that it has fifteen sonnets instead of seven and collects the first or last lines of the first fourteen sonnets to compose the fifteenth. Each sonnet connects to the next by ending and beginning lines in a system of repetition and repetend. The majority of the sonnets in this collection use a blank verse style, meaning each line is in iambic pentameter and there is no defined rhyme scheme. The exception to this is the first sonnet which takes a Shakespearean rhyme scheme. The focus of each sonnet varies greatly: some are persona poems while others are more true to the author's own experiences, some cast emptiness as tragedy while others find a way to praise it. Ultimately, these sonnets aim to champion emptiness in all of its forms, aim to be poem-boxes of expression crowning an idea and singing what it has been and what it might become.

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Boxes of Self Expression: A Crown for Empty Spaces