1. Shakespeare’s Sonnets

2. Structure of a Sonnet 14 line poem Themes not limited to love
Meter = iambic pentameter
5 iambic feet
10 syllable lines, short syllable followed by long; unstressed followed by stressed
Chin test: da DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM
Rule-breaker

3. Structure of a Sonnet 3 quatrains,1 couplet
Quatrain 1 & 2 presents problem
Volta = turning point of the poem
After the 2nd quatrain
Quatrain 3 leads into resolution
Couplet provides resolution/closure
Rhyme scheme = abab, cdcd, efef, gg

4. Structure of a Sonnet 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 dimm'd;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance or nature's changing course untrimm'd;
But thy eternal summer shall not fade
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st;
Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st 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.

5. Sonnet Subjects Fair Youth;1-126
Beautiful young man
1-17 = Procreation sonnets
41 & 42 = mistress has seduced FY
87-90 = poet’s insecurities
91-96 = reconciliation of the poet & FY
Henry Wriothesley, Earl of Southampton
Patron of Shakespeare
Financial support
Dedications in Venus and Adonis & The Rape of Lucrece

6. Sonnet Subjects Dark Lady; 127-152 Mary Fitton?
Sexual in content; opposite from
FY sonnets
Mary Fitton?
Maid to Queen Elizabeth
Married William Herbert, Earl of Pembroke
1609 dedication to Mr. WH
“Dark” descriptions reference ethnicity or represent their relationship
Lust, passion, jealousy, hatred, anger, paranoia

7. Sonnet Subjects Rival poet Cupid; 153 & 154
Christopher Marlowe or George Chapman
Competition for fame or patronage
FY sonnets
Cupid; 153 & 154
Allegorical sonnets
Allusion to mythology

8. Authorship Order of sonnets Printed with author’s consent?
Titlepage = MR.W.H.“TO.THE.ONLIE.BEGETTER.OF./THESE.INSIVING.SONNETS.”
Thomas Thorpe’s initials only
“Mr. W.H.” unknown
William Herbert, Earl of Pembroke
Father of Mary Fitton’s child; scandal (DL?)
Henry Wriothesley, Earl of Southampton
Fair Youth