The basics of Shakespeare's sonnets: historical background, autobiographical or not, The Fair Youth, The Dark Lady, sonnet structure

1. Shakespeare’s Sonnets
A Scratch across the Surface
by
Vicki Lague

2. Rhyme Scheme
• Example, Sonnet 18:
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.
a
b
a
b
c
d
c
d
e
f
e
f
g
g
(day)
(temperate)
(May)
(date)
(shines)
(dimm’d)
(declines)
(untrimm’d)
(fade)
(ow’st)
(shade)
(grow’st)
(see)
(thee)

3. William Shakespeare
26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616

4. Poetry Forms
• Narrative (tells a tale/story)
• Drama (presented on a stage)
• Lyric (Short poem that expresses a state of
mind)
– Personal experience, close relationships, and
description of feelings
– Updated by Shakespeare and other early European
poets into long sonnet sequences mostly in praise of
their mistresses

5. Historical Background
• Writing lyric poetry was more fashionable
than writing drama
• Ambitious poet had to write a sonnet
sequence
• Trended in early and mid-1590’s England
• Ended suddenly in 1596 or 1597
Bevington, David. “Sonnets.” The Necessary Shakespeare. Boston: Pearson, 2014. 880-884. Print.

6. Shakespeare’s Sonnets (880)
•
•
•
•
Written during the genre’s zenith
Not published when written
Circulated in manuscript form
Shakespeare may have delayed publication
himself:
–
–
–
–
Genteel accomplishments were supposed to include versifying
Designed to amuse friends
Publication not considered “genteel”
Not clear if this attitude motivated Shakespeare

7. Publication, Presentation &
Problems (880)
• Publication:
– By Thomas Thorpe in 1609
– Reprinted in 1640
• Questions:
− To whom are the sonnets addressed?
− Do they tell a consistent story?
− Are they autobiographical?
• Basic Difficulty:
− Thorpe’s order of presentation may not be Shakespeare’s
intention

8. Sonnet Order (880)
• Sonnets 1 – 126 (most of them): Show a
warm friendship for a handsome young
aristocratic man (The Fair Youth)
– May be one person or several
– May be William Herbert, 3rd Earl of Pembroke

9. The Fair Youth (882)
• May have been William Herbert, patron of
the theatre and education
– An aristocrat, handsome, young, charismatic
– Shakespeare’s sponsor (monetary support)
• Makes Shakespeare subservient to friend
• Praises friend’s beauty and virtues
– As the older man, Shakespeare
• Urges young man to marry
• Become immortal through children
http://www.pbs.org/shakespeare/players/player42.html

10. Sonnet Order
• Sonnets 127- 152: About the poet’s darkhaired mistress, the Dark Lady

11. The Dark Lady (883)
• Praised for her being a “real” woman, not some
kind of goddess (Petrarchan sonnet convention)
• Unknown woman, but may be Emilia Lanier
with whom Shakespeare had a brief affair, a
love triangle that included his friend, William
Herbert
– Proto-feminist: “Forgetting they were born of woman, nourished
of women, and that if it were not by the means of women they would be
quite extinguished out of the world, and a final end of them all, do like
vipers deface the wombes wherein they were bred.”
http://www.pbs.org/shakespeare/players/player34.html

12. Sonnet Order
• Sonnets 153 – 154: Seem unrelated to
anything that comes before them, casting
doubt on the ordering

13. Sonnet Order (881)
• Evidence of inconsistencies
– Some are closely linked to preceding sonnets
– Some are disconnected
– Most readers see a narrative continuity with
some blocks of sonnets being out of place

14. Sonnet Order (881)
• Evidence of inconsistencies
– Some are closely linked to preceding sonnet
– Some are disconnected
– Most readers see a narrative continuity with
some block of sonnets being out of place
• Shakespeare may intend to show
juxtaposition and contrast

15. Sonnet Order (881)
• Evidence of inconsistencies
– Some are closely linked to preceding sonnet
– Some are disconnected
– Most readers see a narrative continuity with
some block of sonnets being out of place
• Shakespeare may intend to show contrast
• No alternative order has found acceptance

16. Sonnet Order (881)
• Evidence of inconsistencies
– Some are closely linked to preceding sonnet
– Some are disconnected
– Most readers see a narrative continuity with
some block of sonnets being out of place
• Shakespeare may intend to show contrast
• No alternative order has found acceptance
• Conclusion: Thorpe’s order is suspect, but
may have an unknown rationale

17. Autobiographical? (882)
• Are they autobiographical?
– Most scholars believe they were written over a
number of years
• Large number before 1598
• Some perhaps later
• Some up to the date of publication (1609)
– May not be autobiographical
– Emotion may be from Shakespeare’s gift as a
poet

18. Not Autobiographical? (882)
• Established artistic conventions had already
displace biography
– Biography avoided
– The “story” of the sonnet is never important
– A series of lyric reflections:
• Love, adversities of fortune, death, etc.
• Narrative events are occasions for reflection

19. Use of Conventions (882-3)
• Uses typical situations and themes use by
predecessors
• Emphasis on friendship is new
• Use of juxtaposition/contrast favored in
drama: Shakespeare was a dramatist

20. Structure
• Three quatrains (four lines) developing a
specific idea closely related to others with
alternating end rhyme
• End couplet of two rhyming lines
• Volta (turn): line 9 (Italian) or may be
delayed to the couplet
• Some sonnets don’t fit pattern
• Iambic pentameter
http://www.sonnets.org/basicforms.htm