R.D. Laing’s literary ambitions culminated in the publication of his

in 1979. The volume contains a sequence of 38 sonnets (with a concluding two-stanza lyric). There is no narrative pattern linking the sonnets. The collection moves from theme to theme, occasionally touching on psychiatric issues, but in the main taken up with more typical concerns such as love, death and spirituality. Writing in iambic pentameter, Laing does not use Petrarchan pattern of an octave and sestet rhyming

(or

). Instead he uses the Shakespearean sonnet of

, which he frequently varies with the pattern

, or by combining quatrains into octets, or quatrain and couplet into a sestet. Following the sonnets are a collection of adages from other authors…

598 words

Citation: Burston, Daniel, Gavin Miller. "Sonnets". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 29 August 2005 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=16854, accessed 22 November 2024.]