1. Shakespearean Sonnets
CP English 9
Students will be able to translate and analyze a Shakespearean sonnet after reading/hearing it aloud, taking notes on vocabulary, and discussion.

2. William Shakespeare

3. What is a sonnet? A sonnet has 14 lines.
A sonnet must be written in iambic pentameter
A sonnet must follow a specific rhyme scheme, depending on the type of sonnet.
A sonnet can be about any subject, though they are often about love or nature.
A sonnet introduces a problem or question in the beginning, and a resolution is offered after the shift.
Iambic what?
Oh dear, this is
going to be a
weird lesson!

4. Iambic Pentameter
 Iambic Pentameter is the rhythm and meter in which poets and playwrights wrote in Elizabethan England. It is a metre that Shakespeare uses.

5. Heartbeat.
Quite simply, it sounds like this: dee DUM, dee DUM, dee DUM, dee DUM, dee DUM. It consists of a line of five iambic feet, ten syllables with five unstressed and five stressed syllables. It is the first and last sound we ever hear, it is the rhythm of the human heart beat.

6. Pentameter? Well an ‘iamb’ is ‘dee Dum’ – it is the heart beat.
Penta is from the Greek for five.
Meter is really the pattern
So, there are five iambs per line!
(Iambic penta meter )

7. It is percussive and attractive to the ear and has an effect on the listener's central nervous system. An Example of Pentameter from Shakespeare: but SOFT what LIGHT through YONder WINdow BREAKS

8. Syllables What is a syllable?
Well, there are three syllables (separate sounds) in the word syllable!
“But soft, what light through yonder window breaks.”
How many syllables are there in that quotation?

9. “But soft, what light through yonder window breaks.”
Write this down and underline the stressed words. If you cannot remember, go back to slide 5.
This rhythm is iambic pentameter!
Well done!

10. Back to sonnets. Well, it is a poetic form.
But it has a certain structure as well as a rhyming pattern.

11. Rhyming patterns
The Shakespearean sonnet has three quatrains followed by a rhyming couplet, the scheme being: abab cdcd efef gg.
Some sonnets are split into two parts: an octave and a sestet.
More head scratching?

12. Quatrain? Octave? Sestet?
Quatrains are four line stanzas of any kind
Octaves are eight line stanzas (Usually at the beginning of a sonnet
A sestet is the last six lines of a sonnet
I have divided the following sonnet into the three quatrains. I’ve also marked the octave and sestet in the poem.
You will also see the rhyming pattern marked out for you.

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

14. What does it mean?
Read the sonnet out loud a couple of times, then take each line and translate it into modern English.

15. But in his unconventional love poem Shakespeare
In a conventional love poem the writer would exaggerate how beautiful his mistress is:
My mistress' eyes are more
fantastic than the sun;
But in his unconventional love poem Shakespeare
underplays how beautiful his mistress is:
What effect does this line have on the reader? “My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun;” Does it make us wonder what her eyes are like?
My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun;
He has turned around the convention of exaggerated praise

16. He carries on with the unconventional approach in the next lines
desirable feature
Her lips aren't red
Pink-orange colour
Coral is far more red than her lips' red
Something
of a cliche
The conventional
Grey brown colour
If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun
Is he saying she is not
beautiful or is he saying
she is beautiful in a different way?
Can we answer this
or do we need to read on?

17. In the next lines he moves on to describe other physical features
If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.
So she is not
conventionally
beautiful
Gold wires were used
in head-dress and
compared to golden hair
Blondes were more
highly rated
streaked
I have seen roses damask'd, red and white
Is he disparaging his mistress or do these lines enhance the idea of unconventional beauty?
But she doesn’t
have this complexion
But no such roses see I in her cheeks;

18. The author moves from how she looks to how she smells
And in some perfumes is there more delight
Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.
Smells- the word
didn’t have a
negative meaning in
Shakespeare’s time
He’s not saying the smell of
her breath is unpleasant -
just that perfume smells sweeter
In conventional love poems
you would say her breath was
sweeter than perfume
But Shakespeare takes an
unconventional approach

19. The next feature is the sound of her voice
I love to hear her speak, yet well I know
That music hath a far more pleasing sound;
He’s not being critical of her voice:
all he’s saying is that music
has a more pleasing sound
In the conventional love
poem the writer
would say that her voice
was sweeter than music

20. The poet describes how his mistress walks
I admit
to you
I’ve never seen
a goddess walk
I grant I never saw a goddess go;
My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground:
My mistress walks like anyone else,
on the ground, rather than floating through the air
In a conventional love
poem she would be
described as
a goddess
He’s stressing his mistress is no goddess.

21. So does the poet think that his mistress is beautiful or what?
The last 2 lines tell us
Direct statement, telling
us what he thinks
exceptional
And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare
As any she belied with false compare.
For emphasis
The poet thinks she’s
beautiful but doesn’t want
to describe her in a clichéd way.
She is as beautiful as
any woman who is praised
with false comparisons