Analysis Of Donald Justice's Sonnet: The Poet At Seven

Donald Justice- "Sonnet: The Poet at Seven"

And on the porch, across the upturned chair,

The boy would spread a dingy counterpane

Against the length and majesty of the rain,

And on all fours crawl under it like a bear

To lick his wounds in secret, in his lair;

And afterwards, in the windy yard again,

One hand cocked back, release his paper plane

Frail as a mayfly to the faithless air.

And summer evenings he would whirl around

Faster and faster till the drunken ground

Rose up to meet him; sometimes he would squat

Among the bent weeds of the vacant lot,

Waiting for dusk and someone dear to come

And whip him down the street, but gently home.

This sonnet is an example of a Petrarchan sonnet. It is divided into two parts; the octave and sestet.