Crowns of Sonnets

[primeideal]

A crown of sonnets is a series of sonnets in which the last line of one sonnet is also the first line of the following sonnet, and so on wrapping around till the last poem reprises the first. Since the line shows up in two different poems that needs (at minimum, in the Shakespearean version) two different things to rhyme with, you go through rhymes pretty quickly, and it's even more tightly constrained in Petarchan sonnets where more and more lines have to rhyme with each other.

For an added constraint, the "heroic crown of sonnets" or "sonnet redoublé" consists of fifteen sonnets--the first fourteen form a closed cycle as above, and then the first/repeated lines of each of those form a bonus fifteenth. That's a bit intimidating even for me to try, but seems very cool.

There are additional ambitious constraints authors have come up with, for example, Eric Chevlen's "Triple Crown" based on Biblical narratives.

I've written a couple sonnet cycles, usually when I'm in the mood to play with the form but have more to say than fits in fourteen lines. On my blog you can read Snowpocalypse Report about my unimpressive broomball career and a longer crown written when baseball, tennis, and football/soccer collided for an amazing day or two of sports.