Thanks for the sonnet. The "sheepish town" is funny and somehow touching,
and "to colonise the idea of his death" is very striking. I found the last
line difficult to hear, rhythmically till I stressed the "and" after a
slight hiatus. I presume the whole thing has a Scots accent, which would
give the last line in particular an almost mocking terseness crowned by the
perfect rhyme of moon/doun. The force of "traditional" metric naturally
accretes when the expectation set up by the backgrounded metrical frame is
confronted with the rhythm meaning imposes; this kind of "counterpoint", as
I think Hopkins called it, is not to be sneezed at and can't so easily be
achieved by "free" verse, I think; though I don't wish to suggest that when
it works, as here, it's an "easy" achievement! - I had no idea Schwitters
ended up in Ambleside: now it's going to stick in my craw as a bitter shard
of that terrible century. - Cheers, Martin
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