William Shakespeare His Famous Sonnets

Who is William Shakespeare? The Globe Theater

Who is William Shakespeare? Born in 1564 to John and Mary Arden Shakespeare Born in 1564 to John and Mary Arden Shakespeare 1582: Married to Anne 1582: Married to Anne 1583: Birth of Daughter Susanna 1583: Birth of Daughter Susanna 1585: Birth of twins: Judith and Hamnet 1585: Birth of twins: Judith and Hamnet : Established in London as actor/playwright; first work Comedy of Errors : Established in London as actor/playwright; first work Comedy of Errors

Who is William Shakespeare? 1593: Begins writing sonnets (until 1597-ish) 1593: Begins writing sonnets (until 1597-ish) : Some more famous plays Romeo and Juliet and Midsummer Night’s Dream : Some more famous plays Romeo and Juliet and Midsummer Night’s Dream : Best known plays including the rest of the tragedies : Best known plays including the rest of the tragedies 1599: The Globe Theatre built 1599: The Globe Theatre built 1609: Publication of the Sonnets 1609: Publication of the Sonnets April 23, 1616: Shakespeare dies April 23, 1616: Shakespeare dies

A closer look...

Question of the Annes Hathwey or Whately?? “Not many critics support this hypothesis, but those that do use it to portray Shakespeare as a young man torn between the love he felt for Anne Whateley and the obligation he felt toward Anne Hathwey and the child she was carrying, which was surely his.”

His Works Poetry Poetry The Sonnets The Sonnets The Rape of Lucrece The Rape of Lucrece Plays Plays Tragedies: Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, Macbeth Tragedies: Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, Macbeth Comedies: Much Ado About Nothing Comedies: Much Ado About Nothing Histories: Richard III, Henry V Histories: Richard III, Henry V

What is a Sonnet? 14 lines 14 lines Iambic pentameter Iambic pentameter 5 feet 5 feet 2 syllables each: 2 syllables each: one unaccented, one accented one unaccented, one accented 3 quatrains and a couplet 3 quatrains and a couplet abab cdcd efef gg abab cdcd efef gg First introduced into English Language by Sir Thomas Wyatt in 1500s First introduced into English Language by Sir Thomas Wyatt in 1500s

Sonnet 18 (most famous) 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 owest; Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade, When in eternal lines to time thou growest: So long as men can breathe or eyes can see, So long lives this and this gives life to thee. 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 owest; Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade, When in eternal lines to time thou growest: So long as men can breathe or eyes can see, So long lives this and this gives life to thee.

Some Themes The sonnets are stories about a handsome boy, or rival poet, and the mysterious and aloof "dark" lady they both love Sonnets 1-126: Sonnets 1-126: Mostly addressed to or concern the other man Mostly addressed to or concern the other man Sonnets : Sonnets : About “The Dark Lady” (hair, facial features, character) About “The Dark Lady” (hair, facial features, character) Sonnets 153 & 154: Sonnets 153 & 154: Adaptations of famous classical Greek poems Adaptations of famous classical Greek poems

The Dark Lady Who is the dark lady? No one knows!

Sonnet 126 O thou, my lovely boy, who in thy power Dost hold Time's fickle glass, his sickle, hour; Who hast by waning grown, and therein show'st Thy lovers withering as thy sweet self grow'st; If Nature, sovereign mistress over wrack, As thou goest onwards, still will pluck thee back, She keeps thee to this purpose, that her skill May time disgrace and wretched minutes kill. Yet fear her, O thou minion of her pleasure! She may detain, but not still keep, her treasure: Her audit, though delay'd, answer'd must be, And her quietus is to render thee.

Sonnet 130 My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun; Coral is far more red than her lips' red; If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun; If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head. I have seen roses damask'd, red and white, But no such roses see I in her cheeks; And in some perfumes is there more delight Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks. I love to hear her speak, yet well I know That music hath a far more pleasing sound; I grant I never saw a goddess go; My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground: And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare As any she belied with false compare.

Sonnet 154 The little Love-god lying once asleep Laid by his side his heart-inflaming brand, Whilst many nymphs that vow'd chaste life to keep Came tripping by; but in her maiden hand The fairest votary took up that fire Which many legions of true hearts had warm'd; And so the general of hot desire Was sleeping by a virgin hand disarm'd. This brand she quenched in a cool well by, Which from Love's fire took heat perpetual, Growing a bath and healthful remedy For men diseased; but I, my mistress' thrall, Came there for cure, and this by that I prove, Love's fire heats water, water cools not love.

Now... Write your own love sonnet! Remember the formula: 14 lines Iambic pentameter abab cdcd efefe gg