1. English 12 - Mr. Rinka Lesson #16 Shakespearean Sonnets

2. Shakespeare’s Sonnets http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shakespeare%27s_sonnets http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shakespeare%27s_sonnets Shakespeare's sonnets are a collection of 154 sonnets, dealing with themes such as the passage of time, love, beauty and mortality, first published in a 1609 quarto entitled SHAKE-SPEARES SONNETS: Never before imprinted.

3. The first 17 poems, traditionally called the procreation sonnets, are addressed to a young man urging him to marry and have children in order to immortalize his beauty by passing it to the next generation. Other sonnets express the speaker's love; brood upon loneliness, death, and the transience of life, seem to criticize the loved one’s preference

4. for a rival poet, express ambiguous feelings for the speaker's mistress, and pun on the poet's name. The final two sonnets are allegorical treatments of Greek epigrams referring to the "little love-god”, Cupid. The sonnets are almost all constructed from three four-line stanzas (called quatrains) and a

5. final couplet composed in iambic pentameter. This is also the meter used extensively in Shakespeare's plays. The rhyme scheme is abab cdcd efef gg. Sonnets using this scheme are known as Shakespearean sonnets. Often, the beginning of the third quatrain marks the volta ("turn"), or the line in which the

6. mood of the poem shifts, and the poet expresses a revelation or epiphany.

7. Sonnet 29 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonnet_29 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonnet_29 #16 LA 12 Shakespeare's Sonnets Sonnet 29 is one of 154 sonnets written by the English playwright and poet William Shakespeare. It is part of the Fair Youth sequence (which comprises sonnets 1-126 in the accepted numbering stemming from the first edition in 1609).

8. In the sonnet, the speaker bemoans his status as an outcast and failure but feels better upon thinking of his beloved. Sonnet 29 follows the same basic structure as Shakespeare's other sonnets, containing fourteen lines and written in iambic pentameter, and composed of three rhyming quatrains with a rhyming couplet at

9. the end. However, it does not follow the traditional English rhyme scheme of ABAB CDCD EFEF GG. Rather, the scheme is ABAB CDCD EBEB FF. As noted by Bernhard Frank, French writer and critic, Sonnet 29 includes two distinct sections with the Speaker explaining his current depressed state of mind in the first octave and

10. then conjuring what appears to be a happier image in the last sestet. http://quietube4.com/v.php/http:// www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6FFtq 5CEoM

11. Sonnet 30 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonnet_30 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonnet_30 #16 LA 12 Shakespeare's Sonnets Shakespeare's Sonnet 30, one of his most famous, is a reflection on sad memories reconciled by the realization of the gift he has in his friend. A phrase from the second line of this sonnet has achieved a worldwide circulation in the

12. literature of the twentieth century, with its concern with time: “remembrance of things past.” The mood of depression, with absence from his friend, continues and brings back to the speaker the thought of earlier friends now dead, and former loves now over. The poet’s mournful recollections of his deceased friends are ignited by the

13. lover’s absence and can only be cured by the thoughts of his lover; this exemplifies his dependence on his cherished friend for spiritual and emotional support. http://quietube4.com/v.php/http:// www.youtube.com/watch?v=hWVvl ZdLTDA

14. Sonnet 116 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonnet_116 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonnet_116 #16 LA 12 Shakespeare's Sonnets Shakespeare's sonnet 116 was first published in 1609. Its structure and form are a typical example of the Shakespearean sonnet. The poet begins by stating he should not stand in the way of true love. Love cannot be true if it

15. changes for any reason. Love is supposed to be constant, through any difficulties. In the sixth line, a nautical reference is made, alluding that love is much like the north star to sailors. Love should also not fade with time; instead, true love lasts forever. This is one of Shakespeare’s most famous sonnets. “The movement of

16. 116, like its tone, is careful, controlled, laborious…it defines and redefines its subject in each quatrain, and this subject becomes increasingly vulnerable”. It’s split into three quatrains and a couplet. The sonnet starts out as motionless and distant, remote, independent then moves to be “less remote, more tangible and earthbound”

17. and the couplet brings a sense of “coming back down to earth”. Ideal love is deteriorating throughout the sonnet and continues to do so through the couplet. http://quietube4.com/v.php/http:// www.youtube.com/watch?v=du9x5 TT3rDs

18. Sonnet 130 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonnet_130 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonnet_130 #16 LA 12 Shakespeare's Sonnets Shakespeare's Sonnet 130 mocks the conventions of the showy and flowery courtly sonnets in its realistic portrayal of his mistress. Sonnet 130 satirizes the concept of ideal beauty that was a convention of literature and art in general

19. during the Elizabethan era. Influences originating with the poetry of ancient Greece and Rome had established a tradition of this, which continued in Europe's customs of courtly love and in courtly poetry, and the work of poets such as Petrarch. It was customary to praise the beauty of the object of one's affections with

20. comparisons to beautiful things found in nature and heaven, such as stars in the night sky, the golden light of the rising sun, or red roses. The images conjured by Shakespeare were common ones that would have been well- recognized by a reader or listener of this sonnet. Shakespeare satirizes the

21. hyperbole of the allusions used by conventional poets, which even by the Elizabethan era, had become cliché, predictable, and uninspiring. This sonnet compares the Poet’s mistress to a number of natural beauties; each time making a point of his mistress’ obvious inadequacy in such comparisons; she cannot hope to stand up to the beauties of

22. the natural world. The first two quatrains compare the speaker’s mistress to aspects of nature, such as snow or coral; each comparison ending unflatteringly for the mistress. In the final couplet, the speaker proclaims his love for his mistress by declaring that he makes no false comparisons, the implication being that other poets do precisely that.

23. Shakespeare's sonnet aims to do the opposite, by indicating that his mistress is the ideal object of his affections because of her genuine qualities, and that she is more worthy of his love than the paramours of other poets who are more fanciful. http://quietube4.com/v.php/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Muodrjq4Jg

24. Sonnet 146 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonnet_146 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonnet_146 #16 LA 12 Shakespeare's Sonnets Sonnet 146, which William Shakespeare addresses to his soul, his "sinful earth", is a pleading appeal to himself to value inner qualities and satisfaction rather than outward appearance. Line 1 indicates the main idea by first

25. showing that the poor soul exists on the Earth. However, the words "poor" and "sinful" show the sorrow of sadness and depression towards the soul. Despite the complication in metaphor, the soul is considering Earth as a unethical and bad place because humans are mortal beings. Lines 3-6 question why he places so much energy and value into

26. outward appearance (which may be considered as social or physical) by using the metaphor of a house gaudily decorated and painted but having nothing short of famine within. “Why dost thou pine within and suffer dearth,” The person is being questioned on why show importance towards life if death will apparently start and constantly go

27. on. Line 4 is a metaphor comparing our bodies to outside walls. Line 4 explains that we focus and concentrate on our bodies and life than we do on death. “Painting thy outward walls so costly gay?” The theme the poem therefore teaches us is simply that the afterlife is far more important than now. Life isn't infinite and we should prepare and

28. focus on our death even more. Lines 7-14 reason that inner enrichment is much more important because the body is ultimately subservient to the soul, and is far more transient. The ending couplet proposes even though death "feeds" on mortal bodies, the soul will be eternal and therefore is victorious. “So shalt thou feed on

29. death, that feeds on men, And death once dead, there's no more dying then.” The sonnet is notable for its uncharacteristically religious tone and call for moral richness, whereas most sonnets treasure earthly qualities of beauty and love. In its vocabulary and calling to the soul, the sonnet compares to Psalm 146.

30. http://quietube4.com/v.php/http:// www.youtube.com/watch?v=I5oqp vpx_sk

31. Assignment #1 Read Sonnet 12 and paraphrase it (write in your own words) line by line. #16 LA 12 Sonnet 12

32. Assignment #2 Now try your hand at writing a sonnet. Choose a topic and use this structure: three four-line stanzas (called quatrains) and a final couplet, all composed in iambic pentameter. The rhyme scheme is abab cdcd efef gg.

33. English 12 - Mr. Rinka Lesson #16 Shakespearean Sonnets