Shakespeare’s Sonnets

Shakespeare’s Sonnets

"My words fl

y up, my th

oughts remain below:

Words with

out thoughts n

ever to heaven go.“

from Hamlet W

illiam Shakespeare

Who was Shakespeare?• Born in 1564, the third child and first son of John Shakespeare and

his wife Mary Arden, in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. John Shakespeare was a landowner, a merchant, a glove maker, and the equivalent of what we would call a mayor today.

• At the age of eighteen, he married Anne Hathaway, the daughter of a farmer from the nearby village of Shottery. In 1583, they had a daughter, Susanna, and then twins, Hamnet and Judith, in 1585. (Hamnet died at age eleven).

• Around 1588 Shakespeare and his family moved to London and within a few years he had achieved some success as an actor, a poet and a playwright. The Sonnets especially established his reputation as a gifted and popular poet, but it is the 38 plays he wrote or collaborated on that have firmly established his reputation as the greatest dramatist who ever lived.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/merchant/shakespeare.html

Shall I? Sonnet 18

Sonnet 18

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?Thou art more lovely and more temperate:Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,And summer's lease hath all too short a date:Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,And often is his gold complexion dimmed,And every fair from fair sometime declines,By chance, or nature's changing course untrimmed:But thy eternal summer shall not fade,Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st,Nor shall death brag thou wand'rest in his shade,When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st,So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

Questions to ask when reading a poem:

1. Who is the speaker? 2. To whom is he/she speaking (audience)? 3. State the poem's main idea in a single sentence.4. What is the tone of the poem? 5. Note any words that seem especially well chosen. 6. Note metaphors, similes, and personification.7. Explain the significance of any sound repetition. 8. Do you like the poem? Why or why not?

Shakespearean sonnet:

• an 14 line stanza • written in iambic pentameter• rhyme scheme abab, cdcd, efef,gg• can be divided into three quatrains and a couplet.

Sonnet 18paraphrased

OOOOH Baby I think I shall compare you to a summer dayBut, you know, you're prettier and even better, even calmBecause sometimes it gets windy and the buds on the trees get shaken offAnd sometimes summer doesn't last very longSometimes it's too hotAnd everything gorgeous loses its looksBy getting hit by a truck Or just because everyone and everything gets old and ugly and shabbyBUT (and here's the turn) you're going to keep your looks for ever Your beauty will last for everI'm going to make sure that you never lose your good looksAnd that nasty old Death can never brag about owning youBecause I shall write this poem about youAs long as men can breathe (are you breathing?) As long as men can see (are you looking at this poem?)Then this poem lives, and it gives life and memory to your beauty.

Iambic Pentameter:

• lines of poetry that can be divided into 5 metric feet with alternately unstressed and stressed syllables.

• A line of iambic pentameter flows like this: baBOOM / baBOOM / baBOOM / baBOOM / baBOOM.

Iambic Pentameter

Iambic pentameter:

weakSTRONGweakSTRONGweakSTRONGweakSTRONGweakSTRONG

• “I AM…”

• I AM I AM I AM I AM I AM

weakSTRONGweakSTRONGweakSTRONGweakSTRONGweakSTRONG

• I AM a PI rate WITH a WOOD en LEG

• What light through yonder window breaks?

• So foul and fair a day I have not seen.

Sonnet 29

When in disgrace with Fortune and men's eyes,I all alone beweep my outcast state,And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries,And look upon my self and curse my fate,Wishing me like to one more rich in hope,Featured like him, like him with friends possessed,Desiring this man's art, and that man's scope,With what I most enjoy contented least,Yet in these thoughts my self almost despising,Haply I think on thee, and then my state,(Like to the lark at break of day arisingFrom sullen earth) sings hymns at heaven's gate,For thy sweet love remembered such wealth brings,That then I scorn to change my state with kings.

Sonnet #29 - paraphrased

When I feel unlucky and like no one likes meAnd I feel all alone and cryAnd it's as if my prayers to heaven have no power at all because no one is listeningAnd I feel sorry for myself and think that 'm the unluckiest person aliveI wish that I had that person’s opportunitiesThat I looked like that cute person and was as popular as the most popular person in my classWishing that I had that man's talent, and that man's understanding of difficult conceptsNot at all happy with the things I usually enjoy.Even then, almost hating myself for thinking this wayPerhaps my thoughts think about you, and then my soul,Just like the lark that sings at the moment the light of dayBreaks over the cold earth, sings a song filled with joy and light Because I remember the sweet love we share, and the richness that it brings And, at that point, remembering what we have together, I wouldn't change my present condition even with a king.

What does it mean to paraphrase?

• A paraphrase takes difficult language and explains it in easier, more understandable, language.

• It is usually as long as and often longer than the original piece.

• It does not contain any of the original language.

Your Turn….

• Read Sonnet 101.• Ask yourself the questions that will help you

better understand the poem.• In your group, paraphrase this sonnet.• For extra credit, use only iambic pentameter

in your paraphrase.

Sonnet 101O truant Muse, what shall be thy amendsFor thy neglect of truth in beauty dyed?Both truth and beauty on my love depends;So dost thou too, and therein dignified.Make answer, Muse: wilt thou not haply say'Truth needs no colour, with his colour fixed;Beauty no pencil, beauty's truth to lay;But best is best, if never intermixed?'Because he needs no praise, wilt thou be dumb?Excuse not silence so; for't lies in theeTo make him much outlive a gilded tomb,And to be praised of ages yet to be.Then do thy office, Muse; I teach thee howTo make him seem long hence as he shows now.

References

• Adapted from the pbs lesson plan “Shakespear’s Sonnets” available through www. Pbs.org

• http://shakespeare-online.com/sonnets/sonnetintroduction.html

• http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/teach/muchado/assignment3.html

• http://www.folger.edu/eduLesPlanDtl.cfm?lpid=692

• www.youtube.com