William Shakespeare’s Sonnets

Explaining Poetry: 5 Steps 1- Examine the situation in the poem 2- Examine the structure in the poem 3- Examine the language in the poem 4- Examine the musical devices in the poem 5- Write about your conclusions

William Shakespeare c. 1564-1616 b. Stratford-upon-Avon, England Wrote during Renaissance time period Time of metaphysical and carpe diem poetry

Shakespearean Sonnets 1609 Quarto only source of most 152 Shakespearean Sonnets. Poets chronicled stories of unrequited love in sonnet sequences, which were many sonnets tied together with the thread of narrative There are 3 categories of poems in this Quarto: 1-126 are addressed to The Fair Youth 127-152 are addressed to The Dark Mistress A Lover’s Complaint a 329 line poem written in Rhyme Royal (a-b-a-b-b-c-c)

Shakespeare’s Addressees The Fair Youth (sonnets 1-126) An unnamed young man Written to in loving and romantic language Some suggest this may be a homosexual love, others find support that it is platonic, or father-son love The Dark Lady (sonnets 127-152) Given this name because of she is described as being dark haired The sonnets written about her express infatuation and are more sexual in nature

Shakespearean Sonnet Form Still 14 lines Broken into 4 parts 3 quatrains- 4 line stanza 1 rhyming couplet- 2 line stanza Written in iambic pentameter: ˘ / ˘ / ˘ / ˘ / ˘ / Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?

Shakespearean Sonnet Form Rhyme Scheme: Quatrain 1: a b a b [introduces question] Quatrain 2: c d c d [tentative answers] Quatrain 3: e f e f [tentative answers] Rhyming Couplet: g g [final answer] Volta: The turn or transition in line 9 which marks a shift in focus or thought

Petrarchan (Italian) Sonnets Developed by the Italian writer Francesco Petrarch This form of sonnet typically addresses: The subject of women Often romantic poems Often exaggerate the perfection of women

Petrarchan (Italian) Sonnet Form Still 14 lines Broken into 2 parts 1 octave—8 line stanza 1 sestet– 6 line stanza Usually written in iambic pentameter: ˘ / ˘ / ˘ / ˘ / ˘ /  I will put Chaos into fourteen lines 10

Petrarchan (Italian) Sonnet Form Rhyme Scheme: Octave: a b b a a b b a [introduces problem/desire] Sestet: c d e c d e [comments/provides solution] OR c d c d c d Volta: The turn or transition in line 9 which marks a shift in focus or thought 11

Sonnet 18 ABAB CDCD 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 too short a date. Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines, And often is his gold complexion dimmed; And every fair from fair sometimes declines, By chance, or nature’s changing course untrimmed.

Sonnet 18 EFE F G 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 grow’st. So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see, So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.