first dance. then fiddle.

First Fight. Then Fiddle.
by Gwendolyn Brooks (p1026)

First fight. Then fiddle. Ply the slipping string
With feathery sorcery; muzzle the note
With hurting love; the music that they wrote
Bewitch, bewilder. Qualify to sing
Threadwise. Devise no salt, no hempen thing
For the dear instrument to bear. Devote
The bow to silks and honey. Be remote
A while from malice and from murdering.
But first to arms, to armor. Carry hate
In front of you and harmony behind.
Be deaf to music and to beauty blind.
Win war. Rise bloody, maybe not too late
For having first to civilize a space
Wherein to play your violin with grace.

Brooks mixes both the Shakespearean sonnet and the Italian sonnet. After doing some research online, I learned that a Shakespearean sonnet's rhyme scheme is abab cdcd efef gg. On the other hand an Italian sonnet has an octet first, with the rhyme scheme abbaabba and then a sextet that can be any rhyme scheme without ending as a couplet. However, Brook does not follow either tradition in her sonnet, but rather invents her own style.

This sonnet discusses the aspects of war and peace. The speaker expresses an indifference to society’s conflicts but emphasizes the need to “be remote” or in other words, united. She comments on society’s cyclical nature of instigating war, “but first to arms”, and then establishing peace, “civilize a space…with grace”. Finally, Brook creates a paradox where a society seeks greatness but ends up doing the opposite.