1. Shakespeare’s Sonnets

2. Learning Objectives for Today
Practice identifying and labeling iambic pentameter
Learn new poetry terms: rhyme scheme, quatrain, couplet, paraphrase
Be able to identify rhyme scheme, quatrains, and couplets in a Shakespearean sonnet
Know the characteristics of a Shakespearean sonnet
Write your own definition of a Shakespearean sonnet
Interpret and understand the meaning of a Shakespearean sonnet, with help and on your own

3. 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 sometimes declines,
By chance, or nature’s changing course untrimmed:
But thy eternal summer shall not fade
Nor lose possession of that fair though 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.

4. Our first takes on Sonnet 18…
Iambic pentameter? Check the first two lines:
Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
U /
U /
U /
U /
U /
U /
U /
U /
U /
U /
The sonnet IS written in
iambic pentameter.

5. The Structure of a Sonnet
Shakespeare structured his sonnets in the same way, every time.
3 quatrains, 1 couplet
Quatrain: a group of 4 poetic lines, where lines 1 and 3 rhyme, and lines 2 and 4 rhyme.
Couplet: 2 consecutive lines of poetry that rhyme
Let’s check Sonnet 18 for this characteristic.

6. Draw a line after each quatrain. Put a box around the couplet.
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 dimmer,
And every fair from fair sometimes declines,
By chance, or nature’s changing course untrimmed:
But thy eternal summer shall not fade
Nor lose possession of that fair though 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.
quatrain
quatrain
quatrain
couplet

7. The Structure of a Sonnet
Shakespeare rhymed his poetic lines in a very specific rhyme scheme: a regular pattern of rhyme.
Let’s mark the rhyme scheme in Sonnet 18.
Use letters of the alphabet (a, b, c, d, etc. ) to label lines that rhyme with each other.
If one line rhymes with another line, label both lines with the same letter.
When you get to a new line that doesn’t rhyme with a line before it, label that line with the next letter of the alphabet.

8. Label each line with letters!
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 sometimes declines,
By chance, or nature’s changing course untrimmed:
But thy eternal summer shall not fade
Nor lose possession of that fair though 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. A B C D E F G

9. The Structure of a Sonnet
Shakespeare’s sonnets all use the same rhyme scheme
A B A B C D C D E F E F G G

10. Let’s Review What We’ve Noticed about Sonnet 18
How many lines is Sonnet 18?
Sonnet 18 is a _______ line poem.
Is Sonnet 18 written in iambic pentameter?
Sonnet 18 _________ written in iambic pentameter.
What parts and how many of each can we divide Sonnet 18 into?
Sonnet 18 can be divided into ______ ___________and ______ ____________.
What is the rhyme scheme of Sonnet 18?
Sonnet 18 has an __________________________ rhyme scheme.

11. 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 sometimes declines,
By chance, or nature’s changing course untrimmed:
But thy eternal summer shall not fade
Nor lose possession of that fair though 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.

12. What does Sonnet 18 mean?
What/who is being described in Sonnet 18? How do you know?
To what does Shakespeare compare the girl he loves?
How does Shakespeare think his girl compares to a summer’s day? (Which one does he think is better?) How do you know?
How does Shakespeare say he will make sure his love’s beauty is remembered?
How long will people remember his love’s beauty?
What main message do you think Shakespeare was trying to send to his love in this poem? What two lines best sum up this main message?
Do you think Shakespeare would have “gotten the girl” with this poem? Why?

13. Paraphrase of Sonnet 18 Girl, should I compare you to a summer’s day?
You are prettier and more calm than a summer day
Because sometimes the wind shakes the leaves off trees,
And sometimes summer is not long enough.
Sometimes the sun shines too brightly or too hot
And sometimes the sun goes behind the clouds,
And everything gorgeous loses its good looks
By accident or just because nature makes everything get old.
Your youth will last forever
And your beauty will never fade,
And Death won’t be able to say it casts its shade over you,
Because the lines of this poem will last forever.
As long as men can breathe and eyes can see it,
This poem will live, and it will give life to your beauty.