Is Why Brownlee left a sonnet?

Answer 1

Sort of. It's certainly playing with the form of the Italian Sonnet. Like the Italian sonnet, "Why Brownlee Left" is broken up into an octave and a sestet. This is Muldoon indicating to us that this should at least recall the sonnet form. However, unlike the sonnet, "Why Brownlee Left" does not follow a rhyme scheme (an Italian sonnet is usually rhymed abbaabba cdecde, and the English sonnet usually ababcdcdefefgg) nor is it written in iambic pentameter (the lines are varying lengths rather than 10 syllables each). Muldoon is not a sloppy writer though; he's making this poem more about Brownlee, but also about the sonnet--this is metafiction in that respect. Just like Brownlee, who left when he had every reason to be content, poets are leaving behind the form of the sonnet (in exchange for the free verse we more typically see today) when they had every reason to be content with the sonnet form. That's one reading of it anyway.

So, is this a sonnet? Sort of us. It's either commentary on the tradition of the sonnet, or it is an imperfect sonnet, or more likely it's both.

Answer 2

No, "Why Brownlee Left" is not a sonnet. It is a poem by W. H. Auden that consists of 11 six-line stanzas written in a conversational, narrative style. The poem explores themes of loss, regret, and the passage of time.