Sestina
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| The structure of a sestina. Notice the spiral pattern. |
A sestina is a type of poem that dates back many centuries. It consists of six stanzas with six lines each, followed by a three line envoi, which makes thirty-nine lines total. However, what makes it special isn’t the stanza structure, but the ending words of each line, which repeat in a specific order for each stanza and are repeated, two per line, in the envoi. Here is an example, which I wrote myself:
Often, I cannot help but wonder
My mind blurred and foggy with feeling
As I cannot help but wander
Around the desert, searching for an oasis,
But nothing can be found in this place,
Only other wanderers doing the same.
I look around and find myself in the same
Scene every day, left to wonder
If the endless, fine sand is a place
Inviting enough to flump down if feeling
Tired, or if my mind, persistently seeking an oasis,
Like a traveler, continues to wander.
Often, I cannot help but wander
Like another rabbit in the herd, walking the same
Path, simply chasing a mirage of an oasis.
My mind’s barriers slowly crumble; no wonder
So many travelers fall victim to this feeling
Of searching for this ephemeral, transient place.
Yet here I am, in a pale, bright place
My mind fully dazed as I wander
Completely futile as the color and feeling
Flushes from my face, the wrench in my stomach, the same
Dread that’s all too familiar, causes me to wonder
If I close my eyes, will I see an oasis?
If I conjure an imaginary oasis,
Draw myself in, desperate to leave this place
And, like a snake, shed the wonder,
My mind’s plague, my body’s drug, telling it to wander
Or to grow around it, and be content with the same
Faux refuge, a fortified yet falsified feeling.
But floating by, a fleeting feeling,
The futility of finding this fabled oasis
As I notice the countless travelers with the same
Dreams, the same delusions; this place,
A Flying Dutchman forced to wander
As the passengers slowly cease to wonder.
Yet, if everyone is feeling out of place,
If the illusion of an oasis causes an aimless wander,
Then I shall do the same and dispel my wonder.
Groups (Snowflakes)
If you look carefully, the ending words aren’t in any random order; it’s actually very specific. We will assign the ending words in lines 1 to 6, A through F. We can make a table:
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| Tried making white text on a black background in LaTeX, and was pleasantly surprised at the result! |
As you may notice, the ending words form a cyclic group, which, when written in cycle notation, becomes:
Furthermore, we can think of each stanza as a power of σ; more specifically, the n’th stanza represents the (n-1)’st power of σ.
As for the envoi, the words usually aren’t in any specific order, and it’s often up to the poet to decide how to write it. But the structure of the six stanzas, the cyclic group that they form, are an example of how the beauty of math shows up in different fields (haha) of study and in other forms of art.
Life Update!
Is it crazy how November is already halfway over? My life for the next one and a half months is probably just going to be filled with college applications and schoolwork, and there’s not much to look forward to.
My AP Lit teacher is genuinely amazing. You can tell she has a passion for the subject and her job overall. When we read Macbeth as a class, I understood the story more when she read it out loud. She seems really enthusiastic in making sure everyone feels comfortable with the subject matter, and tries her best to help those who are struggling. We recently had a fun assignment where we wrote a poem (I wrote a sestina to challenge myself) and we annotated a randomly assigned peer’s poem. I received a ballad about tulips that bloom during the spring, and it was very well crafted, and very enjoyable to read! When I received my poem back, the feedback was overwhelmingly positive, which was pleasantly surprising.
Our teacher also let us choose a book to do a project on, and I chose Kafka on the Shore, which I suppose is a bit unconventional compared to other choices like 1984, Frankenstein, and Crime and Punishment. I really like the book, and while I do have one criticism, it doesn’t prevent me from enjoying reading. I haven’t gotten through much yet, but I’ll leave you with this passage:
You’re afraid of imagination. And even more afraid of dreams. Afraid of the responsibility that begins in dreams. But you have to sleep, and dreams are a part of sleep. When you’re awake you can suppress imagination. But you can’t suppress dreams.
(Also I listened to D-D-Dance by IZ*ONE and it’s so good! I say that about almost every IZ*ONE song though. Hitomi’s lines are so satisfying (좀 놀랄 거야 / 내 방식대로 놀아볼 거야 / 다른 너로 내가).)
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