Chapter 4 : If It’s Square, It’s a Sonnet - Reflection

Chapter 4 : If It’s Square, It’s a Sonnet - Reflection

This chapter is essentially a very thorough analysis of a sonnet entitled, “An Echo from

Willow - Wood.” It starts off by telling all about what a sonnet can be and the different types of sonnets. After it presents the text of “An Echo from Willow - Wood,” it breaks that sonnet down and points out all of the things that makes that sonnet, a sonnet. It demonstrates that a sonnet is actually incredibly complex and even says that they can be far more complex and far more difficult to write than long stories. Foster quotes Blaise Pascal saying, “I had not time to write a short one,” to back up his claim that sonnets are harder to write that long stories. When first reading this, I actually thought of an omelette, because at first glance, an omelette looks like nothing more than a flat egg, but then you realize that lots of tiny pieces of other types of food that has been added to this flat egg that gives it all of its flavor. Alton Brown say that “an omelette is one of the easiest thing for a chef to make, but it is one of the hardest things for a chef to make perfectly.” This seems to fit with Foster's claim about sonnets because a sonnet is a seemingly simple thing that is actually incredibly complex when you dissect it.