2. +
AGENDA
ïź Lecture: Sonnets
ïź Style and Format
ïź Activity: Scansion
ïź Recitation Sign up sheet
ïź Introduction
ïź Twelfth Night
3. +
Shakespeareâs Sonnets
The composition dates of Shakespeareâs sonnets is unknown, though it
is likely that he wrote them over a period of several years, beginning in
the early 1590s. Some of them were being circulated in manuscript form
among his friends as early as 1598. In 1599 two of themâ138 and
144âwere published in The Passionate Pilgrim, a verse anthology
written by several authors. The sonnets as we know them were certainly
completed no later than 1609, when they were published by Thomas
Thorpe under the title Shake-speares Sonnets. According to
Shakespearean scholars, it is likely that Thorpe obtained the manuscript
on which he based his publication from someone other than the
Shakespeare. Few believe that Shakespeare oversaw the publication of
Thorpeâs edition because the text is riddled with errors. Still, Thorpe's
1609 compilation is the source for all modern texts of the sonnets.
4. +Shakespearean Sonnet Conventions
With only a few exceptionsâSonnets 99, 126, and 145âShakespeare's
verses follow the established English form of the sonnet.
Each is a fourteen-line poem in iambic pentameter, comprising four
sections: three quatrains, or groups of four lines, followed by a couplet
of two lines.
It is essential that a sonnet contain a âturnâ or âvolta.â Often the first two
quatrains explain a problem or ask a question. The last quatrain and the
couplet offer a solution to the problem or an answer to the question.
Sometimes, particularly in Shakespearean sonnets, this âturnâ does not
occur until the final couplet, where it is a commentary on the previous
twelve lines.
It should be noted that some of Shakespeare's final couplets do not fit
the conventional strategy of summary. Shakespeare did, however,
employ the traditional English sonnet rhyme-scheme: abab, cdcd, efef,
gg.
5. +
Iambic Pentameter
Meter: Iambic pentameter
Unstressed, stressed pattern
Detroit-Detroit-Detroit-Detroit-Detroit
Five feet (10 syllables)
Shall I compare the too a summerâs day
Detroit-Detroit-Detroit-Detroit-Detroit
Though art more lovely and more temperate
Detroit-Detroit-Detroit-Detroit-Detroit
6. +
Sonnet Conventions
ïź14 lines
ïźStrict rhyme scheme
ïźSpecific structure
ïźWeâre going to talk about three specific types
ïźShakespearean (English)
ïźPetrarchan (Italian)
ïźSpenserian
7. +
The Spenserian Sonnet
ïź Form: 14 lines: three quatrains followed by a
couplet.
ïź Content: It is essential that a sonnet contain a âturnâ
or âvolta.â
ïź Meter: Iambic pentameter
ïź Unstressed, stressed pattern
ïź Detroit Five feet (10 syllables)
ïź Rhyme scheme:
ïź abab, bcbc, cdcd, ee
8. Is it | her na | ture or | is it | her will,
To be so cruel to an humbled foe?
If nature, then she may it mend with skill,
If will, then she at will may will forgo.
But if her nature and her will be so,
that she will plague the man that loves her most:
And take delight t'increase a wretch's woe,
Then all her nature's goodly gifts are lost.
And that same glorious beauty's idle boast,
Is but a bait such wretches to beguile:
As being long in her love's tempest tossed,
She means at last to make her piteous spoil.
Of fairest fair let never it be named,
That so fair beauty was so foully shamed.
In this example, you can
see how Spenser links the
idea of each quatrain into
a continuous thought,
which he reflects in the
rhyme scheme. We also
find that the final couplet,
once again distinguished
by elements of rhyme,
characteristically presents
a different idea from the
rest of the sonnet or
comments on it in some
way.
Sonnet No. 41, from Amoretti
9. +The Petrarchan Sonnet
ïź Form: 14 lines: octave and a sestet
ïź Content: The octave forms proposition that describes
problem, asks question, or sets situation. The sestet
proposes turn or resolution.
ïź Meter: Iambic pentameter
ïź Unstressed, stressed pattern
ïź Detroit Five feet (10 syllables)
ïź Rhyme scheme:
ïź octave:
ïź abba abba
ïź Rhyme scheme for sestet:
ïź Can be arranged in various ways:
cdcdcd cdccdc
cdecde cdcdee
10. "London, 1802â by William Wordsworth
1. Milton! thou shouldst be living at this hour:
2. England hath need of thee: she is a fen
3. Of stagnant waters: altar, sword, and pen,
4. Fireside, the heroic wealth of hall and bower,
5. Have forfeited their ancient English dower
6. Of inward happiness. We are selfish men;
7. Oh! raise us up, return to us again;
8. And give us manners, virtue, freedom, power.
9. Thy soul was like a Star, and dwelt apart;
10.Thou hadst a voice whose sound was like the
sea:
11.Pure as the naked heavens, majestic, free,
12.So didst thou travel on life's common way,
13.In cheerful godliness; and yet thy heart
14.The lowliest duties on herself did lay.
The Petrarchan Sonnet is
divided into two sections by
the two differing rhyme
groups. In accordance with
the principle, a change from
one rhyme group to another
signifies a change in subject
matter. This change occurs
at the beginning of L9 in the
Italian sonnet and is called
the volta,or "turn"; the turn is
an essential element of the
sonnet form. It is at the volta
that the second idea is
introduced
11. +
The Shakespearian Sonnet
ïź Form: 14 lines: three quatrains followed by a
couplet.
ïź Content: It is essential that a sonnet contain a
âturnâ or âvolta.â Meter: Iambic pentameter
ïź Unstressed, stressed pattern
ïź Detroit Five feet (10 syllables)
ïź Rhyme scheme:
ïź abab, cdcd, efef, gg
12. +Shall I compare thee to a summerâs day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate.
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summerâs 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 sometime declines,
By chance or natureâs changing course
untrimmed;
But thy eternal summer shall not fade
Nor lose possession of that fair thou owâst,
Nor shall death brag thou wanderâst in his shade
When in eternal lines to time thou growâst.
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
Sonnet 18
William
Shakespeare
13. +
_________
_
Shakespearean Sonnet Form and Structure
________
________
__
Iambic
pentameter A
B
B
A
C
C
D
D
E
E
F
F
G
G
Quatrain
Quatrain
Quatrain
Couplet
octave
sestet
Volta
Lines!
14
Shall I compare thee to a summerâs day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate.
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summerâs 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 sometime declines,
By chance or natureâs changing course untrimmed;
But thy eternal summer shall not fade
Nor lose possession of that fair thou owâst,
Nor shall death brag thou wanderâst in his shade
When in eternal lines to time thou growâst.
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
14. +
The Subject
Shall I compare thee to a summerâs day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
ïź The speaker starts by asking whether he should compare his
subject to with a summerâs day. Then, instead of considering
that further, he gives us a thesis of sorts. The object of his
description is more "lovely" and more "temperate" than a
summerâs day.
15. +
Lines 3-8
ïź Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summerâs lease hath all too short a date:
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimmâd;
ïź These line focus on a personification of nature, explaining the
cycles of life and details of summer.
16. +
Lines 7-8
ïźAnd every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance, or natureâs changing course
untrimmâd;
ïź With these lines, the speaker gets even broader in his philosophy,
declaring that everything beautiful must eventually fade away and
lose its charm, either by chance or by the natural flow of time.
17. +
The Turn: Lines 9-10
ïźBut thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou owâst,
ïź Here is a classic example of a "turn." Suddenly (though it was
foreshadowed a bit in line 8), the tone and direction of the
poem change dramatically: the speaker pronounces that the
person heâs speaking to isnât subject to all of these rules of
nature. The speaker argues that, unlike the real summer, his
belovedâs summer will never end nor will his/her beauty ever
fade.
18. +
Lines 11-14
Nor shall death brag thou wanderâst in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou growâst;
So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
Shakespeare shatters the fourth wall and successfully predicts
that this poem will continue to be read, analyzed, and re-
analyzed for all time. In other words, by allowing us to try to give
life to "thee" (figuring out who he/she was), the speaker and the
poem itself give "thee" life.
26. + Twelfth Nightâan allusion to the night of
festivity preceding the Christian
celebration of the Epiphanyâcombines
love, confusion, mistaken identities, and
joyful discovery.
After the twins Sebastian and Viola
survive a shipwreck, neither knows that
the other is alive. Viola goes into service
with Count Orsino of Illyria, disguised as a
young man, âCesario.â
*Synopsis from the Folger
Version of Twelfth Night
1:53
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R39jE4
SUEF4
Here is a trailer from a
contemporary version to get
you started.
27. +
Read: Twelfth Night: Acts 1 and 2
Post #3: Choose one
1. Compare and contrast the misidentification in Twelfth Night with
that from A Comedy of Errors.
2. Consider common practices of traditional wooing. In what way
would they be different from Cesarioâs endeavors to woo Olivia for
Duke?
3. How does the clown prove that Olivia is a fool? Is he correct or
incorrect in his assessment? (Act 1 Scene 5) Explain your answer
with evidence from the text.
4. Analyze Mariaâs speeches in Act 2 scene 3. Explain carefully her
motive to entrap Malvolio. Do you believe that she is justified in
doing it?
5. QHQ