Sonnet--Gabriel Molina

The Craftsman
By Marcus B. Christian 1900–1976
     

I ply with all the cunning of my art

This little thing, and with consummate care

I fashion it—so that when I depart,

Those who come after me shall find it fair

And beautiful. It must be free of flaws—

Pointing no laborings of weary hands;

And there must be no flouting of the laws

Of beauty—as the artist understands.

Through passion, yearnings infinite—yet dumb—

I lift you from the depths of my own mind

And gild you with my soul’s white heat to plumb

The souls of future men. I leave behind

This thing that in return this solace gives:

“He who creates true beauty ever lives.”

By rhyme scheme and location of the turn, I identified this poem as a Shakespearian sonnet, though I do think it's interesting that the stanzas are structured like a Petrarchan one. The dominant rhyme scheme seems to be iambic pentameter, as it should for a Shakespearian sonnet, but there are times where the feet are not necessarily iambic. Words like "consummate" and "beautiful" just read differently and change the rhythm. There are also a significant number of enjambed lines, which also messes with the rhythm and is almost confusing at times. I would say that the volta/turn happens with the last two lines, which kind of sum up the poet's message.

I chose this poem because I just thought there was a lot that was interesting about it. I liked the content, first of all. It fits very well with our time spent earlier in the year about the role of the artist. I, a kind of craftsman myself, like the way he portrays his role. I also like to think of the poem as an application of the content, about what goes into a craftsman's work. The poem itself has so much thought and intentionality put into it, that it reflects the same message it is communicating. I also found that the structure, especially all the enjambed lines, made the poem more interesting to read. The time that I had to spend to understand the sentence structure made me appreciate the craftsmanship of the poem more.