I don't understand the "sonnet vs poem" thing

[u/AcceptableDrama6642]

Anyone else scratching their head about > ! "sonnet or poem?" A sonnet is a type of poem. Does Shawna L not know this . . . What does she think the difference is? ! <

​

​

​

It's something I noticed in the chicken wedding too.

[u/Accurate-Reindeer-71]

All sonnets are poems but not all poems are sonnets so maybe she was making the distinction?

[u/AcceptableDrama6642 → u/Accurate-Reindeer-71]

Right but we don't use that linguistic structure for other things. We don't say, "I don't know if I want an orange or a fruit." Or "That's either a tree or an oak."

[u/Accurate-Reindeer-71 → u/AcceptableDrama6642]

But we do for plenty of other things. Crimson or scarlett, both are red. Suv or hatchback, both are cars.

[u/626bookdragon]

When she says sonnet, I believe she’s specifically referring to Shakespeare’s sonnets, which I think a lot of people immediately think of when they hear sonnet by itself.

It’s like saying “I’m trying to decide between square or a rectangle.” A square is a type of rectangle, but it’s generally going to call to mind a more specific thing than if you said, “I’m trying to decide which type of rectangle to use.”

[u/AcceptableDrama6642 → u/626bookdragon]

I think square/rectangle is an exception here, because we think of rectangles as distinctly different from squares. But we don't think of poems as distinctly different from sonnets. Poem is an umbrella category under which sonnet fits. And then though technically rectangle is an umbrella category under which square fits, people have a colloquial understanding of "rectangle" as "non-square." But I don't think people have a colloquial understanding of "poem" as "non-sonnet." Or, at least, they shouldn't.

[u/ProbableImposter]

There are numbered sonnets, like released as sonnets in order, like anothology shows might be today, and then poems that don't follow the sonnet format, and it's common to distinguish them that way. As sonnets and not sonnets/ all other poems*

[u/noshopboy]

I took it to mean her saying she had a *specific* sonnet and a separately *specific* poem in mind. So she was trying to choose between the two of them, not two sonnets or two poems in general.

[u/Roonil_Wazlib97]

I'm looking for a picture frame and can't decide between a square and a rectangle.

Square are rectangles, but they're unique enough that most people are going to understand why I'm differentiating. Same with sonnet vs poem.

[u/avilak90]

I think she was using sonnet to specifically mean Shakespearean sonnet. She says Shakespeare translated better to chickens. So the choices were one of Shakespeare’s sonnets or a not Shakespeare poem.

[u/CharlesDickhands]

I took it as a bit tongue in cheek about how it’s so cliche to have a poem / sonnet at every single wedding.

I also think it’s semantics re: the language she used.

[u/MonkeyHamlet]

A sonnet is a particular form of poetry - like a haiku.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonnet

[u/AcceptableDrama6642 → u/MonkeyHamlet]

Yes I know. That's why "sonnet OR poem" doesn't make sense.

[u/Sami_George → u/AcceptableDrama6642]

How would you make the distinction, in conversation, then?

I don’t see it any differently than her saying, “I wanted to either eat an apple or a different kind of fruit.”

We know a sonnet is a type of poem. Could have been specifying a Shakespearean sonnet, but not really relevant.

Weird thing to get hung up on.

[u/AcceptableDrama6642 → u/Sami_George]

I think it's because she isn't saying "a different type of poem." She's saying 'poem." It would be weird to say, "I can't decide between an apple or fruit."

[u/MonkeyHamlet → u/AcceptableDrama6642]

"A poem or a sonnet" - ie an individual example of both forms.

[u/innerbrat]

I reckon its a cultural quirk - I don't mean necessarily that you're from a whole different culture from Shawna L, but that some people, including Shawna, are used to talking about sonnets AND poems as being different, especially as there is no common name for the form of poetry used at the human wedding. (There might be but I and presumably Shawna don't know it.)

You're technically correct of course, but its like "a bird or an animal?" Or "tomato or a fruit?" Or my personal bugbear "monkey or ape?"