Afterword. A Matter of versifying: Tradition, innovation and the sonnet form in English

“Tradition” is represented by “formalist” (“metrist”) verse; “Innovation” by “aformalist” (“free”) composition. This birthday tribute to Professor van Peer takes the formalist side, and discusses innovation and its possibilities in the context of the sonnet form. The form and its traditional variants are discussed, then ten original sonnets are presented in first draft, the opening section of a proposed sequence called Sonnets from the Wilderness. A commentary on the text, its intentions, innovations, and compositional problems, then follows.